2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[MTudor]

I would want Key to stay,and at Mclaren could be made a '26 division,focused solely on the 2026 car with Sanchez as the leader.

[organic]

Let's not make unsavoury speculation about people's jobs/futures in the team please. I didn't mean to start this sort of discussion by posting about Sanchez's move

It is good news, but let's wait for something official now before we go too far down that rabbit hole

[Holm86]

Does Peter Prodromou still work at Mclaren?

Haven't heard a thing about him since ages.

Yes unfortunately, personally I think he is designing too conservative cars that at best have been mediocre. They haven't had a bold revolutionary car in ages, not since Tim Goss and Jonathan Neale.

[Mostlyeels]

Does Peter Prodromou still work at Mclaren?

Haven't heard a thing about him since ages.

Yes unfortunately, personally I think he is designing too conservative cars that at best have been mediocre. They haven't had a bold revolutionary car in ages, not since Tim Goss and Jonathan Neale.

Well to be fair, Tim Goss et al designed the MP4-29, which was bold (mushroom suspension) but not very good. Not taking away from his legacy at McLaren, but just pointing out that bold and revolutionary doesn't always mean good.

[Ground Effect]

me included thats why i posted and nice that the new TP dont try and butter up, it has been obvious mclaren has been lacking for years in the tech departments

interesting enough a former mcl and fer engineer just posted this which i agree fully in, lets hope key is leaving


Patryk Sokołowski
@patryksoko
David Sanchez to spoko gość i bardzo dobry inżynier. Dołączenie do McLarena byłoby zaskoczeniem, bo w takim wypadku ktoś bardzo wysoko musiałby spaść ze stołka. Nie odchodziłby gdyby nie chodziło o pozycję TD lub inną bardzo wysoką. #F1PL #ViaF1
Translated from Polish by
David Sanchez is a cool guy and a very good engineer. Joining McLaren would be a surprise, because then someone would have to fall very high from the stool. He wouldn't be leaving if it wasn't for TD or another very high position. #F1PL #ViaF1

"Let's hope Key is leaving". I can't help but find that a bit of a weird thing to say. I'd rather hope Key comes good with the new tools and infrastructure being lined up. Sanchez hasn't even been confirmed by McLaren and you've appointed him TD already. If he comes great, but there are no guarantees he'd build a race winning car. I'm more of the opinion that the technical department needs strengthening, not one in, one out. Even RBR have a TD and CTO.

[Holm86]

Does Peter Prodromou still work at Mclaren?

Haven't heard a thing about him since ages.

Yes unfortunately, personally I think he is designing too conservative cars that at best have been mediocre. They haven't had a bold revolutionary car in ages, not since Tim Goss and Jonathan Neale.

Well to be fair, Tim Goss et al designed the MP4-29, which was bold (mushroom suspension) but not very good. Not taking away from his legacy at McLaren, but just pointing out that bold and revolutionary doesn't always mean good.

No ofc it doesn't mean good always, but at least it means you're trying.
I don't think you can be first, by "playing it safe" which I think Prodromu has been doing way too much.
McLaren is too big at team, to just make conservative midfield cars and be happy with that, if you ask me.

[Slahinki]

Yes unfortunately, personally I think he is designing too conservative cars that at best have been mediocre. They haven't had a bold revolutionary car in ages, not since Tim Goss and Jonathan Neale.

Well to be fair, Tim Goss et al designed the MP4-29, which was bold (mushroom suspension) but not very good. Not taking away from his legacy at McLaren, but just pointing out that bold and revolutionary doesn't always mean good.

No ofc it doesn't mean good always, but at least it means you're trying.
I don't think you can be first, by "playing it safe" which I think Prodromu has been doing way too much.
McLaren is too big at team, to just make conservative midfield cars and be happy with that, if you ask me.

I think they've had to play it safe, considering the massive handicaps that come with using the Cologne wind tunnel. You can't really afford to go for bold ideas in case they don't work because of the massive amount of time wasted going to/from Cologne with models/parts, and having to book the wind tunnel for use well in advance.

[Holm86]

Well to be fair, Tim Goss et al designed the MP4-29, which was bold (mushroom suspension) but not very good. Not taking away from his legacy at McLaren, but just pointing out that bold and revolutionary doesn't always mean good.

No ofc it doesn't mean good always, but at least it means you're trying.
I don't think you can be first, by "playing it safe" which I think Prodromu has been doing way too much.
McLaren is too big at team, to just make conservative midfield cars and be happy with that, if you ask me.

I think they've had to play it safe, considering the massive handicaps that come with using the Cologne wind tunnel. You can't really afford to go for bold ideas in case they don't work because of the massive amount of time wasted going to/from Cologne with models/parts, and having to book the wind tunnel for use well in advance.

Maybe, but I'd say that most of the design work is done in CAD and CFD, and the wind tunnel is just for correlation work

[Zynerji]

[djos]

Sweet!!!!

[f1rules]

im just suggesting as is someone else, that should he go to mcl the next logical career move would be a TD position, and personnally i hope to see him replace Key, who in my opinion had his chance, but agree it needs general strengthening,

me included thats why i posted and nice that the new TP dont try and butter up, it has been obvious mclaren has been lacking for years in the tech departments

interesting enough a former mcl and fer engineer just posted this which i agree fully in, lets hope key is leaving


Patryk Sokołowski
@patryksoko
David Sanchez to spoko gość i bardzo dobry inżynier. Dołączenie do McLarena byłoby zaskoczeniem, bo w takim wypadku ktoś bardzo wysoko musiałby spaść ze stołka. Nie odchodziłby gdyby nie chodziło o pozycję TD lub inną bardzo wysoką. #F1PL #ViaF1
Translated from Polish by
David Sanchez is a cool guy and a very good engineer. Joining McLaren would be a surprise, because then someone would have to fall very high from the stool. He wouldn't be leaving if it wasn't for TD or another very high position. #F1PL #ViaF1

"Let's hope Key is leaving". I can't help but find that a bit of a weird thing to say. I'd rather hope Key comes good with the new tools and infrastructure being lined up. Sanchez hasn't even been confirmed by McLaren and you've appointed him TD already. If he comes great, but there are no guarantees he'd build a race winning car. I'm more of the opinion that the technical department needs strengthening, not one in, one out. Even RBR have a TD and CTO.

[Ground Effect]

im just suggesting as is someone else, that should he go to mcl the next logical career move would be a TD position, and personnally i hope to see him replace Key, who in my opinion had his chance, but agree it needs general strengthening,

me included thats why i posted and nice that the new TP dont try and butter up, it has been obvious mclaren has been lacking for years in the tech departments

interesting enough a former mcl and fer engineer just posted this which i agree fully in, lets hope key is leaving


Patryk Sokołowski
@patryksoko
David Sanchez to spoko gość i bardzo dobry inżynier. Dołączenie do McLarena byłoby zaskoczeniem, bo w takim wypadku ktoś bardzo wysoko musiałby spaść ze stołka. Nie odchodziłby gdyby nie chodziło o pozycję TD lub inną bardzo wysoką. #F1PL #ViaF1
Translated from Polish by
David Sanchez is a cool guy and a very good engineer. Joining McLaren would be a surprise, because then someone would have to fall very high from the stool. He wouldn't be leaving if it wasn't for TD or another very high position. #F1PL #ViaF1

"Let's hope Key is leaving". I can't help but find that a bit of a weird thing to say. I'd rather hope Key comes good with the new tools and infrastructure being lined up. Sanchez hasn't even been confirmed by McLaren and you've appointed him TD already. If he comes great, but there are no guarantees he'd build a race winning car. I'm more of the opinion that the technical department needs strengthening, not one in, one out. Even RBR have a TD and CTO.

If aero is the main issue at McLaren Technical, then it's clearly not a James Key problem, as he is not aerodynamicist. Clearly that department needs good strong reinforcement, which I'm glad they're getting. But it seemed short-sighted to blame Key and call for his replacement. If the aero department is understaffed or the guys there not good enough, replacing the TD will do nothing. There's a good chance that this hire is coming about at his insistence, which is what a good TD should do.

[f1rules]

The TD has the final responsability regarding car competiveness point. Are any of the "supply departments" in this case aero, not living up to their responsability, the TD needs to do something about it. Now Key enherited a car concept 4 years ago by Fry and Stella which he developed/finetuned to a satisfing level. Now. All teams were given a white piece of paper and Keys cars has been nothing but dissapointing. Last year the concept was completely wrong and this year, well hasnt started well, and im sorry but the TD is in charge and responsible. Add to that, there seem bo be an inherited weakness in the mclaren cars, that drivers has complained about, but Key did not manage to solve. So im sorry. He had his chance. Now if Sanchez is coming, i dont think it will be for an aero position. He was head of aero already, at ferrari years ago, but was promoted to head of vehicle concept. So i doubt he will go back to just an aero role. But we will see

[Ground Effect]

The TD has the final responsability regarding car competiveness point. Are any of the "supply departments" in this case aero, not living up to their responsability, the TD needs to do something about it. Now Key enherited a car concept 4 years ago by Fry and Stella which he developed/finetuned to a satisfing level. Now. All teams were given a white piece of paper and Keys cars has been nothing but dissapointing. Last year the concept was completely wrong and this year, well hasnt started well, and im sorry but the TD is in charge and responsible. Add to that, there seem bo be an inherited weakness in the mclaren cars, that drivers has complained about, but Key did not manage to solve. So im sorry. He had his chance. Now if Sanchez is coming, i dont think it will be for an aero position. He was head of aero already, at ferrari years ago, but was promoted to head of vehicle concept. So i doubt he will go back to just an aero role. But we will see

I agree with the TD responsibility, no doubt he's in charge of the ship and should ensure targets are met and everyone is up to the task. But what if the issue has been adequate man power, or working tools etc? We don't know the inner workings of McLaren, we don't know if he's pointed this out to management already and there have been constraints. The part I don't get is you insisting "he's had his chance". You don't know enough about the inner workings of the team to assert that. Just because you don't have the patience doesn't mean the team don't. Please refrain from making assertions you know nothing about. You didn't sit down with McLaren and Key and agree on his performance targets. Whatever role Sanchez takes up will be determined by McLaren and agreed with him. From the tweet we saw this morning it was said he was joining Key's team. Besides no one is saying he's coming to be head of aero, though it's obvious he's an aerodynamicist, that's his area of specialisation. If he ends up replacing Key as you desire, that is up to the team. Don't be eager for change for the sake of it.

[Ben1980]

People love the idea if hiring and firing. If it's not an immediate success sack him! Go back to scratch and start it all again.