McLaren's Key New Members From Red Bull And Ferrari Confirm Team Is On Right Path

Saturday, 27 January 2024 at 01:00

The team principal of the Papaya team, Andrea Stella, revealed his two new key hires from Red Bull and Ferrari, confirm the team is on the right path.

McLaren acquired two new key hires in 2023. Firstly, the Chief Engineering Officer from Red Bull - Rob Marshall, and secondly, the Chief Engineer (Vehicle Concept) from Ferrari - David Sanchez.

Both were on a "gardening leave" (a period during which they had to stay away from F1) until the start of the year 2024, but now they are back at work and fully engaged with their new team - McLaren.

What is exciting for the British team is that both Marshall and Sanchez bring a lot of knowledge as they have been essential parts of the two of the top teams in the grid. Andrea Stella told motorsport.com:

"They've been part of great teams, great projects, and the good thing is that this knowledge, I think we see that it integrates with what we knew and with our know-how."

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McLaren made a significant step forward in the qualifying and race pace during the previous season, which hinted that the team was on the right trajectory. But it certainly is reassuring to have people from Red Bull and Ferrari confirming the direction.

"So it's not like, 'Oh we should do things in this way, which is opposite to what you do.' Instead, it's 'we can do things in this way, which adds a little bit to what you do.' This was quite refreshing in a way."

Red Bull's head of the performance engineering division, Ben Waterhouse, suggested at the start of this year his team was already shifting focus on the 2025 car.

McLaren is not so much behind as the team principal revealed his team is also starting to set the basis for the 2025 car. He added:

"We have a 2024 car, and we are already setting the basis for how we evolve the '24 into the '25. And then there's a 2026 project with completely new technical regulations."