F1: McLaren Hires Key Red Bull Figure Rob Marshall as Senior Technical Chief

McLaren has announced that Rob Marshall, previously of Red Bull, will join the Woking team on January 1, 2024, in the role of Technical Director, Engineering & Design. In the aftermath of James Key's departure as Technical Director, the team has stated that Marshall will take on the post of F1 Technical Executive, working with Peter Prodromou and David Sanchez and reporting directly to Team Principal Andrea Stella. Alongside Neil Houldey, who will fill the newly established position of Deputy Technical Director, Engineering & Design, he will oversee the whole senior technical organisation. Together, they will evaluate and develop the most stringent technical standards needed to build championship-winning F1 cars. After spending the last 17 years at Red Bull, most recently in the role of Chief Engineering Officer, Marshall is making the move to McLaren. His hiring is being touted as a key component in McLaren's strategy to advance to the front of the grid.

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Rob Marshall F1 Career

Marshall, a former Renault designer who is credited with developing the team's revolutionary mass damper system, which contributed to Renault's 2005 and 2006 constructors' championships, will begin his role as McLaren's technical director in January of 2024.

During Red Bull's championship-winning run from 2010 to 2013, the British national worked as the team's chief designer before expanding his responsibilities as the company's first chief technical officer. As a result, he has been actively participating in the new Red Bull Powertrains project in recent times.

To round off the changes made to the senior technical team, Neil Houldey will now report to Marshall as the deputy technical director for engineering and design.

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McLaren's Challenging 2023 Campaign

McLaren's poor start to the 2023 season led to the dismissal of Technical Director James Key and the disclosure that the team had failed to meet important development targets implied in the winter. In light of James Key's March resignation as Technical Director, CEO Zak Brown, and Team Principal Andrea Stella decided to divide Key's former responsibilities amongst three people.

After several years of steady improvement, McLaren was at risk of falling rapidly. They need to make big acquisitions like Sanchez to reinforce current talent and battle back to the front if they want to stop the bleeding and go to the lead again.

Rob Marshall, who has spent the previous 17 years with Red Bull Racing and played a vital part in Red Bull's first triumph and four consecutive double titles from 2010 to 2013, as well as their recent wins in 2021 and 2022, will be one of those three.

McLaren has 17 points, putting them in fifth position in the constructor championship, 18 points behind Alpine in fourth.