Formula 1: McLaren hires Red Bull's chief engineering officer Rob Marshall as technical director
May 31, 2023
Surrey [UK], May 31 : McLaren Racing has announced Rob Marshall as their new technical director for engineering and design.
Marshall is currently the Red Bull chief engineering officer. He will leave them after 17 years to take up his new role at McLaren on January 1, 2024, reported Sky Sports.
Marshall has been with Red Bull since 2006 as chief designer along with Adrian Newey. Marshall helped create the car for Red Bull that won the drivers and constructors' championships from 2010-2013.
McLaren's new technical team was created in March as the team moved away from a single executive technical director. Marshall will work alongside Peter Prodromou, technical director for aerodynamics, and David Sanchez.
Sanchez joins McLaren from Ferrari in January as technical director for car concept and performance. Marshall's appointment at McLaren was announced by team principal Andrea Stella.
"With over 25 years working in motorsport, Rob comes to us with a wealth of expertise and experience, elevated by his tenure and track record at Red Bull Racing." Stella was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.
"Rob's appointment is one of the fundamental steps and a natural fit to aid the team's journey to get back to our winning ways. We are a team with the ambition of fighting for championships, but over the last couple of seasons, we have not shown a steady upward trend from an on-track competitiveness point of view," Stella added.
"Over the last few months, we have worked towards inverting this trend. The approach we have adopted is comprehensive and is based on strengthening the team from a people and expertise point of view, along with the ongoing projects to upgrade technology and infrastructure that will shortly come to fruition," he said.
"People and culture are our most important resource. We have recently invested and worked towards developing and empowering the internal talents available at McLaren, and we already perceive and measure the positive impact," said the team Principal of the McLaren F1 Team.
"In parallel, we have been strengthening our roster by bringing new talents on board. The list was already strong and encouraging, and the addition of a high-end and skilled individual like Rob will further consolidate our ability to establish the highest technical standards at McLaren and be in condition to design winning F1 cars." Stella concluded.
Following the announcement, McLaren Racing's CEO, Zak Brown took to his Twitter to register his excitement of working with Rob Marshall.
"Pumped to bring Rob Marshall to McLaren from Red Bull, as our new Technical Director, Engineering & Design. With over 25 years of experience in motorsport, Rob is an F1 championship-winning calibre talent, and another step forward in our plan to take the team to the top." Brown tweeted.
McLaren is currently ranked sixth in the 2023 constructors' championship. The team is looking to make appropriate changes to challenge the top teams in F1.
