McLaren sign Red Bull aero chief Prodromou

McLaren have secured the return of Peter Prodromou to Woking. Prodromou is a much respected aerodynamicist who worked alongside Adrian Newey since Red Bull began its winning streak.

There were rumours before, but McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh had confirmed to Reuters at Suzuka that the signing is a done deal.

"He's signed a contract with us," team boss Martin Whitmarsh told Reuters at Suzuka.

McLaren's managing director Jonathan Neale added "In terms of our position, yes we have recruited Peter, we're really excited about him joining the team but it's not a one off thing that we are doing, there are other things we are doing to strengthen our team," he said. "It's a series of moves as we head towards 2015 with Honda to make sure this team stays at the forefront of Formula One and in winning ways. We don't intend to hang around here [at the current performance level] for very long. We've quietly been strengthening the team through this year as well and sorting ourselves out internally.

"As you'd expect in our organisation, there is a pipe line of things coming through and I would say the one that has broken in the press today is the furthest away. There is a lot more that is happening in the short term."

Reports say Prodromou's existing Red Bull contract runs until 2015, and it looks likely he won't switch before that time.

"We've enjoyed a long relationship with Peter and he's a valuable member of the team and there's quite a duration left on his contract," Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said.

"We won't force him to stay, if it's his choice to leave then he'll leave at the end of his contract. But we are quite some way off that," he added.