2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[blastdoman]

Decisions are finally being made.What happened these last two preseasons is an example that something in the team was not working. Personally, it was what I was demanding for a long time.

[djos]

It's a message to Norris and Piastri. Accountability. We're trying.

Maybe they should have done this 2 years years ago when both Lando and Daniel where begging for a front end that did what they wanted!

[Darth-Piekus]

Personally I think they took the correct decision to sack James Key. He was good for Force India and Torro Rosso but these are small teams that can be top of the midfield at best. They don't have the history, the drivers or the resources to ever get to the top. He was good at those midfield teams but he wasn't good enough for Mclaren and it seems that all these articles were just overhyping him. He was here from 2019 and since then the car lost it's ability to be best at high speed corners and straights without fixing it's weakness in medium and slow speed corners. He had his chances and top F1 is punishing to those that don't deliver. I believe that his replacements will deliver much better just like Piastri did.

[Balalu]

Strong changes, hopefully this gives strong results. Unfortunately, the sacking of Key was inevitable.

I have faith in Stella. He has much more experience than Seidl in F1. If anything, Sedil and Key are both responsible for McLaren's current situation.

[Sevach]

I don't like that the position of technical director was divided into three people. There should be one responsible person.

But having one hasn't worked, so try something different.

I'm partial against this system ever since it made Newey run to Red Bull in the mid 2000s.

[Big Tea]

Personally I think they took the correct decision to sack James Key. He was good for Force India and Torro Rosso but these are small teams that can be top of the midfield at best. They don't have the history, the drivers or the resources to ever get to the top. He was good at those midfield teams but he wasn't good enough for Mclaren and it seems that all these articles were just overhyping him. He was here from 2019 and since then the car lost it's ability to be best at high speed corners and straights without fixing it's weakness in medium and slow speed corners. He had his chances and top F1 is punishing to those that don't deliver. I believe that his replacements will deliver much better just like Piastri did.

The flip side of what you say could be that at a 'small team' he did what he wanted as he was his own boss, but being a a multi like mclaren means there could be more than one 'guiding light' and he can not get exactly what he wants passed off? I have been 'places' where what actually happens seems quite close to what was planned, but others (what we called) put their ore in, and made a couple of 'small tweaks', maybe due using an approved supplier, and the final is not what was anticipated.

[djos]

I don't like that the position of technical director was divided into three people. There should be one responsible person.

But having one hasn't worked, so try something different.

I'm partial against this system ever since it made Newey run to Red Bull in the mid 2000s.

The role of the TD is to set the direction and make sure the team has the resources they need to do their jobs. Simply put, It’s a technical project manager role.

If the TD insists on going down a certain path, the team has no choice but work to those goals.

[Sevach]

But having one hasn't worked, so try something different.

I'm partial against this system ever since it made Newey run to Red Bull in the mid 2000s.

The role of the TD is to set the direction and make sure the team has the resources they need to do their jobs. Simply put, It’s a technical project manager role.

Adrian wanted to do more than that, so he found a place that allowed him.

Back to current events, from what i can gather Sanchez was essentially TD at Ferrari under a different name, with Cardile being aero chief.
He wouldn't be able to coexist with Key at Mclaren, nor would he take a lesser job.

Sanchez "director of car concept and performance" will be the middle ground between the aero team and the mechanical engineering team, despite being presented as 3 equal chiefs it still sounds like he's "more equal" than the others since he gets to pick which concept goes forward while not really working at the aero department.

[diffuser]

Is this the right time(starting of the season) to fire James Key?
It means Mclr has given up on 23 plus depending on who will join and when will also impact next season.

Why, you want him to get started on next year's car?

Kind of surprised it went down this fast but I did say last fall that Key would be feeling the heat if McLaren had another bad start.

[PlatinumZealot]

Key had to to zacked. He just had to be.
I was never convinced by his skills. He tended to make just barely decent cars that already had a good base or that were in the middle of nowhere. During his time in McLaren he did zilch. I can't beleive he got the role when Mclaren made the call. The 2022 brake shambles was already the writing on the wall imo.

[Nivedanm]

Also, being the person with the utmost authority in a fairly new small team is entirely different from taking up such a role at a company like Ferrari or McLaren. You will find engineers who'd be working from the 80s and 90s. Their experience and insights have to be taken into account. Someone from 80s would definitely have predicted porpoising while designing new ground effect cars for the first time. They would have had the know-how to address it. Harnessing their knowledge and ideating with that know-how is something you won't have to do at a Toro Rosso or Force India.

Personally I think they took the correct decision to sack James Key. He was good for Force India and Torro Rosso but these are small teams that can be top of the midfield at best. They don't have the history, the drivers or the resources to ever get to the top. He was good at those midfield teams but he wasn't good enough for Mclaren and it seems that all these articles were just overhyping him. He was here from 2019 and since then the car lost it's ability to be best at high speed corners and straights without fixing it's weakness in medium and slow speed corners. He had his chances and top F1 is punishing to those that don't deliver. I believe that his replacements will deliver much better just like Piastri did.

The flip side of what you say could be that at a 'small team' he did what he wanted as he was his own boss, but being a a multi like mclaren means there could be more than one 'guiding light' and he can not get exactly what he wants passed off? I have been 'places' where what actually happens seems quite close to what was planned, but others (what we called) put their ore in, and made a couple of 'small tweaks', maybe due using an approved supplier, and the final is not what was anticipated.

[mclaren111]

There had to be good reasons for Stella to choose Peter Prod over Key...

Hope it doesn't backfire on him & PP delivers with new windtunnel...

[mwillems]

I'm partial against this system ever since it made Newey run to Red Bull in the mid 2000s.

The role of the TD is to set the direction and make sure the team has the resources they need to do their jobs. Simply put, It’s a technical project manager role.

Adrian wanted to do more than that, so he found a place that allowed him.

Back to current events, from what i can gather Sanchez was essentially TD at Ferrari under a different name, with Cardile being aero chief.
He wouldn't be able to coexist with Key at Mclaren, nor would he take a lesser job.

Sanchez "director of car concept and performance" will be the middle ground between the aero team and the mechanical engineering team, despite being presented as 3 equal chiefs it still sounds like he's "more equal" than the others since he gets to pick which concept goes forward while not really working at the aero department.

Yes it seems like Sanchez will have I suppose the output of the TD but without perhaps the same authority, what's notable is that you'd assume that authority now goes to Stella, and that's the real take home here, as it consolidates Stellas influence over the car/ability to draw the car together.

Edit: I suppose you could look at this as a matrix hierarchy, or you could suggest Stella now holds the De Facto responsibility to assure the car is everything it should be. I hope he is up to it.

[mwillems]

There had to be good reasons for Stella to choose Peter Prod over Key...

Hope it doesn't backfire on him & PP delivers with new windtunnel...

How tightly was PP managed to work inside a concept and how did that restrict him?

Who knows, hopefully Stella, but simply taking that position now doesn't mean that his work is not being watched very closely, or that the team aren't looking to see if the position can't be improved, just that perhaps that improvement isn't available right now, we have to be pragmatic about this.

[taperoo2k]

So reading this correctly, Key is fired with immediate effect (not a big statement of belief in Baku upgrade) and Sanchez is joining on January 1st of 2024. So effectively he will be working on 2025 car at the earliest?

Key didn't produce the results so being fired was the only recourse for McLaren to take. As for the Baku upgrade? Who knows at this point. At least with the restructure at McLaren, they'll be able to explore paths Key either didn't think of or didn't want to explore.
Unless McLaren can come to an agreement with Ferrari, then Sanchez won't start work until then. If McLaren want him to start earlier they'll have to get the chequebook out.