Two Key Team Members From Red Bull And Ferrari Now Allowed To Start Working For McLaren

Monday, 01 January 2024 at 22:00

The McLaren F1 team recently acquired two essential new hires from Red Bull and Ferrari, but they were not allowed to start working until January 2024.

McLaren F1 team started its restructuring process in 2023, and part of the process was acquiring Rob Marshall from Red Bull and David Sanchez from Ferrari. Here is why

Rob Marshall has been working for Red Bull Racing for 17 years, ever since the season in 2006. He joined the team at the Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey.

Adrian Newey is a legend of the sport hugely credited for Red Bull's success, and Marshall then worked very closely with the 65-year-old throughout his time with the team from Milton Keynes.

In 2016, the British engineer was promoted from Chief Designer to Chief Engineering Officer. In this role, he continued with Red Bull throughout its successful seasons from 2021 to the beginning of 2023.

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On 30 May 2023, it was announced he would be departing Red Bull to join the McLaren F1 team in a senior technical role.

David Sanchez had already worked with McLaren between the years 2007 and 2012 but then joined Ferrari as Principal Aerodynamicist.

In 2021, Sanchez was promoted to the position of Chief Engineer, Vehicle Concept, and led the development of SF22, Ferrari's 2022 car. In March 2023, it was announced the Frenchman would be rejoining McLaren in the position of Technical Director of Car Concept and Performance.

Both Marshall and Sanchez went on what is called a "gardening leave" throughout the rest of the 2023 season. Gardening leave is a mandatory period during which new hires have to stay away from both their old and new teams.

This is to prevent them from taking up-to-date key data and information that could help their new team gain a competitive advantage over the old team.

In January 2024, the gardening leave is over for both Rob Marschall and David Sanchez, who are now allowed to join their teams in the development of cars for the next and future seasons.