McLaren Racing to enter Extreme E next year

McLaren are to join the Extreme E electric off-road championship next year, the Formula One team announced on Friday. Extreme E was set up by the man behind Formula E, Alejandro Agag, to draw attention to some of the world’s most pressing environmental issues. “This new venture is true to our roots of participating in a variety of categories, innovation and bravery,” said McLaren team boss Zak Brown. For Brown, Extreme E is “a force for good in confronting some of the biggest challenges facing our world today and in the future”. The British F1 outfit supplied Lewis Hamilton with his first world title and Hamilton’s X44 team is competing in the inaugural season of Extreme E. The RxR team of Hamilton’s former teammate at Mercedes, 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg, is leading the series after wins in the opening two races. Brown noted that while they would be competing against some familiar big names “we are there to win”. Brown has overseen a sharp revival in McLaren’s fortunes in Formula One with Lando Norris placed fourth in the drivers’ standings and the team occupying the same position in the constructors’ standings.