“Needles sufficiently terrify me” – McLaren CEO Zak Brown has revealed it is Toto Wolff who is primarily responsible for his Monza tattoo and not Daniel Ricciardo.
The tattoo was part of the Industry Leaders’ Challenge, run by the Grand Prix Trust. Via this, Toto Wolff nominated Zak Brown to do something that terrifies him. For Brown, the choice was easy – his fear of needles.
The McLaren CEO very smartly combined this challenge with Daniel Ricciardo’s first McLaren podium in Monza. As you can see below, the American has got the map of the Monza race track tattooed.
“Sometimes you have to face your greatest fears, which I’ve done.
“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!”
The challenge can also include drivers and team crew
Zak Brown has nominated the next person but is not allowed to reveal it publicly. He added that apart from team bosses, even drivers and team crew can participate in the challenge.
“I know who it is, I’ve done it.
“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.”
