Official: Rob Marshall to become technical director of McLaren F1

Zak Brown had promised the coming announcement of a big name to bolster McLaren F1, and the team CEO didn’t lie! Rob Marshall will become the team’s technical director of engineering and design next year.

Rob Marshall is leaving Red Bull Racing, where he previously served as director of engineering. He will work within the three-leader structure of McLaren’s technical department, reporting to Andrea Stella.

He will thus accompany Peter Prodromou and David Sanchez, who will come from Ferrari. He will have Neil Houldey as his assistant, and the two men will therefore be in charge of the technical direction on the design side.

“I am very happy that Rob is joining McLaren” said Andrea Stella, McLaren F1 Team Principal. “With over 25 years of experience in motorsport, Rob brings his expertise and experience to us, reinforced by his seniority and his career with Red Bull Racing.”

Stella wants to reverse the current trend

McLaren F1 is having a difficult season, the second in a row when the team had a great season in 2020 and 2021: “Rob’s appointment is one of the fundamental steps and a natural fit to help the team get back to winning ways.”

“We are a team with the ambition to fight for the championships, but in the last two seasons we have not shown a trend of constant improvement from the point of view of competitiveness on the track.

“Over the past few months, we have worked hard to reverse this trend. The approach we have taken is comprehensive and based on strengthening the team in terms of people and expertise, as well as ongoing technology and infrastructure modernization projects that will soon bear fruit.”

“People and culture are our most important resource. We have recently invested in and worked to develop and empower the internal talent available at McLaren, and we are already seeing and measuring the positive impact. our team by recruiting new talent.”

“The roster was already strong and encouraging, and the arrival of a highly skilled person like Rob will further enhance our ability to set the highest technical standards at McLaren and be able to design winning F1 cars. We are looking forward to welcoming Rob in the near future.”

Red Bull confirms that he is dismissed immediately

After 17 years with Red Bull, Marshall is ending his immediate collaboration with the Milton Keynes team. This was confirmed by the latter in a press release, explaining that he had a period of gardening leave, as the English call it, that is to say a notice period before joining McLaren.

“We would like to thank Rob for all he has done for the team over the past 17 years” said Christian Horner, director of Red Bull. “His work on the generation of cars that allowed us to achieve four incredible championship doubles between 2010 and 2013 was truly exceptional.

“In the years that followed he continued to be a key figure in the team and in 2016 he took on the broader role of Director of Engineering which saw him take part in d “other projects across the company. We will miss his influence, but we thank him once again for all he has done and wish him the best.”