2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[Ben1980]

Waa Sanchez employed before Marshall?

[LionsHeart]

The most interesting thing is that Stella himself will temporarily occupy the role of performance director. I wonder if they will find someone within the team or will they look for someone on the side?

[mwillems]

It just looks like the role wasn't quite what he wanted. The quote I saw says Sanchez decided this after many conversations about roles and responsibilities. Perhaps he wanted to lead the design more than he would have be allowed

[Venturiation]

It just looks like the role wasn't quite what he wanted. The quote I saw says Sanchez decided this after many conversations about roles and responsibilities. Perhaps he wanted to lead the design more than he would have be allowed

Yes

[De Wet]

Neil Houldley takes over the reins from Marshall as technical director of engineering, while Peter Prodromou remains in place as technical director of aerodynamics.

Marshall's responsibilities seems less now...

[organic]

Sanchez had his responsibilities reduced & Sanchez wasn't OK with it I guess

[MCLvamos]

Neil Houldley takes over the reins from Marshall as technical director of engineering, while Peter Prodromou remains in place as technical director of aerodynamics.

Marshall's responsibilities seems less as well...

Chief designer doesn't sound like a downwards step to me?

[CjC]

Out of all the roles I did wonder how the Sanchez one would work. How can you have a role of performance and concept without being the lead in Aero in such an aero dominated sport?

I wouldn’t be surprised if McLaren have pandered more to Marshall and took responsibility off Sanchez which obviously didn’t sit well with Sanchez.

Marshall now being classed as chief designer would suggest to me that he’s at the top of the tree and the other 3 roles report to him?

It was probably pitched to Sanchez that he would have 33% of a say but at best it’s only going to be 25% now and one of the other ‘says’ had previously worked at one of the best racing teams for the past 15+ years.

[Balalu]

I know that I am alone in this, but I am kind of relieved. Was not convinced with his signing from day one. Look at Ferrari...

[Emag]

I know that I am alone in this, but I am kind of relieved. Was not convinced with his signing from day one. Look at Ferrari...

Just like you should not appoint one team's success to a single person, the same should be said about failures as well. It is true, Ferrari has had periods of struggle while he occupied a high-level role. But we can't forget that he was on that same role when the SF70H and F1-75 were conceived. Both of which were the first cars of their respective ruleset and were great performing cars with weaknesses which were not directly tied to their fundamental design.

The SF70H had a clear power deficit compared to the leading Mercedes of that year, and the F1-75 was crippled by an in-season regulation change.

My point here being, no matter what his role might have been in Ferrari's struggles, he would have definitely been a great asset to have for the new regulations in 2026.

[Ground Effect]

So, what position would McLaren be looking to fill?

EDIT: I guess it would be Head of Performance, (TD). If the team is lucky, and Red Bull still end up loosing people, depending on his contract status, Ben Waterhouse is reportedly very highly rated.

[Venturiation]

I know that I am alone in this, but I am kind of relieved. Was not convinced with his signing from day one. Look at Ferrari...

[Ground Effect]

I know that I am alone in this, but I am kind of relieved. Was not convinced with his signing from day one. Look at Ferrari...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GJeEsJ7asAA ... name=large

I'm not saying he's bad or anything, but he obviously didn't have anything to do with the 2024 car. He left early 2023.

[FittingMechanics]

Out of all the roles I did wonder how the Sanchez one would work. How can you have a role of performance and concept without being the lead in Aero in such an aero dominated sport?

Marshall now being classed as chief designer would suggest to me that he’s at the top of the tree and the other 3 roles report to him?

The whole idea of a Technical Director for Concept and Performance seemed to be in collision with separate TDs for aero/engineering. How can you develop a concept and then another department is supposed to work on aero. They are now removing the "concept" part from that role and will focus on performance. It is possible that the whole "concept" thing was there to appease/get Sanchez a say in the development of the car but that they realized it will not work.

It does look like they are moving away from "3 head chefs" and more toward one main head (Chief Designer) with three Technical Directors. It seems logical to me - it looked quite strange before but I expected that Stella would be that main guy.

Now it looks like Stella will do more operational stuff and Marshall is our Newey. Sounds good to me. Now we need to get some wins.

[f1rules]

Without knowing what happened, from the outside this looks like the logical move. They tried with 3, now they have two, where Marshall is purely concept, chassis and mechanical and Prodromou all aero. Sanchez was a bit of both, and was head of concept at ferrari. I see him as a more old fashioned top of pyramid type TD with responsability for all. And to put him level with marshall and prodromou with both their areas of expertise didnt really work. Whereas those two together seem very logical