Wolff’s challenge the reason Brown got tattoo
A challenge from Toto Wolff was the reason Zak Brown got a tattoo in Austin, the American has revealed.
With Daniel Ricciardo in attendance, the McLaren team principal went under the needle during the United States Grand Prix weekend, getting a tattoo to commemorate the team’s 1-2 finish in Monza earlier this year.
It took the F1 world by surprise, seemingly coming out of the blue, but as it turns out, it was the completion of a challenge that had been set for him long before.
As part of the Industry Leaders’ Challenge, set up by the Grand Prix Trust charity, Wolff challenged Brown to do something he was scared of, and needles fell into that category.
“Sometimes you have to face your greatest fears, which I’ve done,” Brown said as per Motorsport.com.
“It actually came about through the Grand Prix Trust with Sky, where a team boss gets nominated each year to do something that terrifies them.
“Toto nominated me last year, and needles sufficiently terrify me. So in trying to think through what would be kind of fun and genuine, and properly terrifying, I came up with the idea of getting a tattoo.
“Then obviously, given that Daniel himself is a fan of tattoos, and with him winning recently, I thought maybe we can tie the two together and have him come to visit and hold my hand!”
Not that Monza was going to be forgotten in a hurry… 🇮🇹🏆 #McLaren #F1 pic.twitter.com/wNgeNs4ecx
— Zak Brown (@ZBrownCEO) October 23, 2021
The Grand Prix Trust challenge doesn’t end there, with Brown now having to nominate another member of the F1 paddock to do something in the next year or so.
He has always decided who he’s going to challenge but isn’t giving anything away just yet.
“I know who it is, I’ve done it,” he said.
“It’s to nominate someone significant, a personality in the sport. So far it’s been three team bosses in a row, but it’s not limited to just that. It could be engineers, it could be drivers, it can be other people with significant personalities if you’d like within the sport.
“It’s up to the individual to come up with their own plan, and I think it will be rolled out shortly who I’ve nominated. I’m not allowed to say. It’s embargoed.”
Whether Brown and co will be celebrating come the end of the season remains to be seen, with the British team just three and a half points ahead of Ferrari in the battle for P3 in the Constructors’ Championship.
