End of the year 2016 said goodbye to the company Ron Dennis and thus finally cleared the way for team renewal McLaren. Since then at the top McLaren locations Zak Brown, a marketing professional from the USA who is also a big fan of motorsport. And since he has McLaren z Andreas Seidl the new team boss, goes to the team from Woking finally for the better. That's it McLaren in the constructors' championship he is in fourth place. They haven’t been that good since 2012 - Then they are Lewis Hamilton in Jenson Button led the team even to third place. From year 2012 forward McLaren nor did he win any victory.
But in the meantime, new foundations have been laid. Brown is on top McLaren replaced Dennis, Seidl took over as team leader from Boullier, James key is the new technical director, instead Honda but now their race car MCL34 drives Renault drive unit. With the failed project s Hondo it was clear that it was originally set three-year plan (in 2015) will not hold water. For the way back to the top Formula 1, you are McLaren instead "hard”Pledged“soft goals“, Which is in an interview for colleagues from Motorsport-Total.com said Brown, who issued that McLaren years at the latest 2023 again fought for the highest places.
"In 2021, we will have a new Formula 1. The budget ceiling will also come. At the same time, Mercedes and Ferrari spend significantly more than we do. It will be difficult to keep up with others if the field is not leveled. But that will change in 2021. Because of this, we can say that there is probably a five-year journey ahead of us," so Brown. "We expect to be able to fight for the title towards the end of this five-year journey. I think that in 2021 the budget ceiling will not have a bigger impact yet, because we will spend the money already in 2020. It will take somewhere until 2022 or 2023 for the new Formula 1 to really get a new shape. And I also think we should be quite competitive then."
On this path, however, it is no longer a matter of gaining in the team top experts ali racing stars. It is conceivable, however, that they could be replaced at this time engine supplier. But overall, it provides Brown, have a team with which they want to write future chapters of history McLaren. "For my part, the process is complete. I have my own leadership team. These are Andreas, who takes care of the Formula 1 team, James as technical director and the new head of marketing for the commercial side. To these must be added the financial and human resources chief. The management team is complete. I have the structure and people I wanted to have."
The new man on the team around whom McLarn everything spins is the team boss Andreas Seidl, which has from Brown extensive powers. Already in the first weeks of service at McLarn, Seidl set up a new wind tunnel and finally said goodbye to Fernanda Alonso, which did not correspond to his vision. Seidl is in McLaren came from Porsche, where he could lead a new team Formula E. But the German was more interested in working in Formulas 1. Apparently she was next McLaren he was interested in another team of the royal motorsport class, and he wanted to have it in their ranks as well Mercedes Benz. However, he only had at McLarn the prospect of putting a team on its feet that was already fairly on the ground.
"Andreas was already in Formula 1 with a BMW at Sauber. I’ve known him for quite some time and I know how good a job he has done at Porsche. He is a racer at heart, a leader and a team player. On top of that, it has a very strong technical background," so Brown. "I looked around in Formula 1 and also outside of it and he was just the right person I wanted to have on the team. He was highly sought after. We weren’t the only team to have interviews with him. Among them was the team that wins Formula 1. which is why I am very happy that we were able to bring him to McLaren."
Seidl by Brown enjoys complete confidence, even in the future personnel decisions within the team. Boss McLaren does not intend to interfere in what is best for Seidl and Kay. “Andreas and James have my support in everything they plan to do with the team.”Basically Brown he no longer expects any significant changes other than improving the form of the team. And here Brown mentions several stages: 2019 they were supposed to successfully defend fourth place. 2021 the budget ceiling is supposed to represent an opportunity to significantly reduce the backlog for the best. And years 2023 should be McLaren returned to the old paths of glory. “Our plan is to constantly improve. We were sixth last year, although we were actually seventh because the Force India team went bankrupt. We are fourth at the moment, but it will be very close until the end. Because the whole middle of the field is separated by only half a second."
