Although Marshall has continued to attend races this year, and collected the winners’ trophy for the team at the Australian Grand Prix, Horner said he had been moved into a role outside the F1 operation and was keen to return to one.
“He played a significant role within the team but over recent years he’s moved onto other projects and hasn’t been on the mainstream of Formula 1,” Horner explained. “After 17 years he had an offer, a significant offer, from McLaren. Whilst he still had a period of time left on his contract, he was keen to go back into Formula 1, and so we came to an agreement with him.
How can anyone say that he wasn't involved anymore when he was on the podium in Australia collecting the trophy for the team ? Horner is just doing PR work to seem that it isn't a big loss, but I think that he knows, just like Fallows at AM, that he will bring a lot of (good) ideas at McLaren, not just about the car.