McLaren is very active in the technical market.
David Sanchez from Ferrari and Rob Marshall from Red Bull have been the flagship acquisitions in the technical department orchestrated by McLaren’s new team principal, Andrea Stella.
The Italian engineer, previously Fernando Alonso’s race engineer at Ferrari, took the helm at the Woking-based team after Andreas Seidl’s departure. Andreas Seidl is already working as the head of organization for Audi in Formula 1, starting in 2026 when the German manufacturer will make its debut in the sport coinciding with the introduction of the new technical regulations concerning power units (the MGU-H will disappear, fuel will be 100% bio, and the electric part will have a more prominent role in terms of power).
Audi recently confirmed the signing of the former technical director of McLaren, James Key, who will be part of Sauber from 2024 onwards. The Seidl-Key partnership has thus been reestablished as Audi-Sauber, while McLaren, with Andrea Stella at the helm, has bolstered its top engineering department with David Sanchez and Rob Marshall joining Peter Prodromou. However, the papaya-colored team’s recruitment campaign may not end there. In his latest blog post, journalist Joe Saward reveals that he heard rumors in the Canadian paddock about McLaren’s interest in Mattia Binotto, the former team principal and managing director of Ferrari who is currently observing his year of gardening leave after resigning at the end of the 2022 Formula 1 championship (his contract was set to expire in 2023):
“I’ve heard a truly remarkable number of surprising stories,” we can read on Joe Saward’s blog, “including Mattia Binotto to McLaren, although it’s not clear in what role or capacity he would be positioned.”
Mattia Binotto has recently been linked to Audi and Alpine, with the former being reportedly dismissed by the former Scuderia Ferrari team principal himself. In McLaren, Mattia Binotto would reunite with Andrea Stella and David Sanchez, with whom he worked extensively at Ferrari in Maranello.
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In terms of the driver market, the most interesting rumor is about Daniel Ricciardo, who seems to have regained his form from his best days, as per leaks from Red Bull. If Sergio Perez’s crisis continues and the competitiveness of their rivals grows, a reunion of the Max Verstappen – Daniel Ricciardo pair at Red Bull in 2024 cannot be ruled out.
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