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Key out, Sanchez in at McLaren

NEWS STORY
25/03/2023

Following a poor start to the season, McLaren has announced a major organisational change that see the departure of technical director, James Key and the return of former Ferrari man, David Sanchez.

The Woking team has taken the decision to move away from a single Executive Technical Director role, overseeing the whole technical operation. Instead, it will be introducing an F1 Technical Executive Team comprising of three new specialised Technical Director roles, reporting directly to Team Principal Andrea Stella. James Key, Executive Technical Director has left the team as part of this restructure.

The F1 Technical Executive Team includes Peter Prodromou, who moves into the role of Technical Director, Aerodynamics. He will lead the whole aero function, using his experience gained in 32 years of Formula 1 and a strong track record of winning world championships.

David Sanchez returns to McLaren as Technical Director, Car Concept and Performance after a decade at Ferrari, and brings significant expertise and innovation to the team. David will join the team on 1 January 2024.

Neil Houldey is promoted into the newly created role of Technical Director, Engineering and Design. Having first joined the team in 2006, Neil has grown within the organisation, becoming a highly respected technical leader.

Giuseppe Pesce is promoted to Director, Aerodynamics & Chief of Staff, to support the running of the aero department reporting to Peter Prodromou.

Alongside these changes, Piers Thynne moves into the expanded role of Chief Operating Officer for the Formula 1 team. This new role will support the Team Principal in the mission of innovating and elevating the standards at McLaren, to be strongly positioned to be competing at the front of the grid.

This reorganisation has been the work of a number of months and takes place ahead of several new key infrastructure projects which are due to come online in phases throughout 2023.

Additionally, the team has been undertaking a sustained recruitment campaign to increase the technical capability, with some senior appointments already made.

This strategic approach, based on organisational restructure, new infrastructure, and expansion of the workforce, creates the foundations for a stronger and more innovative Formula 1 team to enable future success.

"Firstly, I'd like to thank James for his hard work and commitment during his time at McLaren and wish him well for the future," said Andrea Stella.

"Looking ahead, I am determined and fully focused on leading McLaren back to the front of the field. Since taking on the Team Principal role I have been given the mandate to take a strategic approach to ensure the team is set on a long-term foundation, for us to build on over the years.

"This new structure provides clarity and effectiveness within the team's technical department and puts us in a strong position to maximise performance, including optimising the new infrastructure upgrades we have coming in 2023.

"Alongside Peter and Neil, I'm delighted to welcome David Sanchez back to the team to complete an experienced and highly specialised Technical Executive team, with the collective aim of delivering greater on-track car performance.

"I'm looking forward to continuing working together with Piers, who will play a fundamental role to define and deliver the plans to create an innovative and effective F1 team."

"It's important now that we ensure we have a solid foundation as the next phase of our journey," added Zak Brown. "It has been clear to me for some time that our technical development has not moved at a quick enough pace to match our ambition of returning to the front of the grid. I'm pleased that, having completed a full review with Andrea, we are now able to implement the restructure required to set the wheels in motion to turn this around.

"These strategic changes ensure the long-term success of the team and are necessary to see McLaren get back to winning ways. We have everything coming into place now with our people and infrastructure and alongside an exciting driver line-up, I'm determined to see McLaren get back to where we should be."

"I'm excited to be returning to the team in Woking," said David Sanchez, "and look forward to working alongside Peter and Neil and the rest of the team to achieve our performance objectives.

"McLaren has always had an extremely talented group of people and alongside the new infrastructure upgrades coming online this year, we have an exciting prospect ahead that I'm delighted to be a part of."

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READERS COMMENTS

 

1. Posted by Tafferel, 27/03/2023 12:35

"When Mclaren let Tim Goss go, they made a similar statement about moving away from a single technical director in charge of the car. Maybe the org chart layout isn't the issue, but the names on the chart, especially the one at the top."

Rating: Positive (2)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by Bill Hopgood, 24/03/2023 0:28

"Like all organisations McLaren’s issues are leadership issues.

Hopefully these changes stick and things do improve for McLaren however, while McLaren had a positive bump in 21 things have slipped since and the CEO will need to deliver results and soon or be replaced.

McLaren have had very good drivers and team personal as well as facilities however for some reason just can’t improve to compete with the top teams.

In the meantime a certain former McLaren deputy team principal has shown up at Aston who are doing ok at the moment. "

Rating: Positive (3)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

3. Posted by Editor, 23/03/2023 22:49

"@ Anthony

Ron had McLaren in his DNA.

Brown is the Kings New Clothes... While Seidl was there nobody noticed but now they can see it.

He made his name and money in marketing... and we all know about that industry.

He really appears to think he's another Bruce. He's got his finger in too many pies and as he runs up the bills the Bahrainis pick up the tab and get another slice of McLaren in the process.

Jeez, if Can-Am was still a thing he'd be giving that a try."

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4. Posted by Anthony, 23/03/2023 20:39

"@Defiant

I agree that the key to success is being surrounded by clever people and, most importantly, being happy for those people to be smarter than oneself.

I am another who misses Ron!"

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5. Posted by Endre, 23/03/2023 18:29

"A change was really needed, but increasing the number of managers rarely helps any organization. Decision making speed will drop and accountability will be diluted. Not feeling very optimistic."

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6. Posted by Motorsport-fan, 23/03/2023 17:49

"Does not seem they have employed anyone to get rid of that awful colour scheme"

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7. Posted by Mad Matt, 23/03/2023 17:28

"Let's hope poor old James isn't wandering around with a gnome inserted into him :-)"

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8. Posted by Defiant, 23/03/2023 17:27

"and Ed nails it again.

Anyone else missing Ron? He had a nack of surrounding himself with smarter people than himself."

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9. Posted by Editor, 23/03/2023 14:44

"@ JamesD

Probably much the same reason as why Basil continued to hire O'Reilly the builder."

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10. Posted by JamesD, 23/03/2023 14:39

"Nothing personal but it's about time Mr Key went. I was surprised when he was appointed in the first place as he didn't have a track record of designing fast or winning cars."

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11. Posted by alvarezh3, 23/03/2023 14:38

"Looks interesting, I tend to think that they will move forward, but by how much is the question.

As David Sanchez will start in 2024 it won't be until the 2025 model year that his tecnical knowhow would be fully employed."

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12. Posted by kenji, 23/03/2023 13:36

"It is quite obvious that the decline at McLaren needed to be arrested and as they were going backwards action was paramount. Two races in and last in the pecking order! The worst thing about the new structure is that Sanchez won't be working there until jan '24! Knowing that, will be a dampener for the rest of this season. Zak Brown needs to carry this can though as CEO it's his responsibility. How secure is he and where will Binotto surface? "

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