Marshall and Sanchez will be well aware that there will be considerable attention to the impact, if any, they have in restoring the McLaren name to the top echelon of the sport. No pressure! I wonder how well they gel both personally and in philosophy with the Stella structure instigated a year ago. Obviously any real impact isn't likely to be felt until 2025 but it's probably going to be directed more to the 2026 new iteration of F1 cars.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mcla ... /10563704/
So the seeds of doubt about McLaren's technical progress within upper management surface in July 2022 with an upgrade that had been hoped or even expected to unleash significant performance gains turned into disappointment. Some of this disappointment would have put the spotlight on Andreas Seidl who was going to end his McLaren contract at the end of 2025. A few months after he revealed he was going to Sauber/Audi, Zak Brown released him 3 years early, on 13 December, and at the same time announced Stella would be replacing him. So it's clear that both Seidl and Key have, quietly and behind the scenes, been held accountable for the MCL36's poor performance. I would also point to the previous season's slump in form after great form up to Sochi, to see things were not going in the right direction.
So Zak has had his critics but he hasn't been afraid to swing the axe, albeit in a dignified manner some other teams haven't emulated. I'm incredibly excited about 2024 even while realising that 2025 is the timeline for Zak Brown's chess pieces to be lined up. Maybe there's a hope for a return to the grand McLaren team we saw before it all fell apart nearly 15 years ago, maybe we will all be disappointed and 2023 turns out to be just an upward blip.
but I hope McLaren can make a big step
