McLaren Racing’s CEO Zak Brown says they resisted the temptation to “play the gardening depart card” with a view to delay Andreas Seidl’s arrival at his new workforce.
The workforce introduced right this moment Seidl will step down from his position as workforce principal to hitch Sauber as its new Group CEO. Sauber, whose System 1 workforce is presently branded as Alfa Romeo, will turn into Audi’s works workforce in 2026.
Seidl beforehand labored for Porsche, which together with Audi is a part of the Volkswagen Group, within the World Endurance Championship. He gave McLaren superior discover of his deliberate transfer, Brown instructed media together with RaceFans.
“Andreas, who did a wonderful job right here at McLaren for the final handful of seasons, in a really clear method knowledgeable me in the course of the season that he was going to go elsewhere when his contract was up on the finish of 2025,” he mentioned.
“It was in all probability fairly clear the place that vacation spot could be, which was fairly comprehensible, given his background.”
McLaren introduced right this moment Andrea Stella will take over from Seidl “with instant impact”. Brown mentioned they initially deliberate for Seidl to see out his tenure on the workforce, which was as a result of proceed for one more three seasons.
“At the moment we meant to proceed for the foreseeable future as a result of the connection may be very wholesome and his work self-discipline may be very robust. What we had been going to do at that time was, on the finish of the season, let the world know that change would are available on the finish of the ’25 season.
“After we meant to go public, the primary individual I used to be going to name to see if they might lead McLaren’s System 1 workforce [was] Andrea, however not at that time being positive whether or not that may be one thing that he would think about.”
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Nevertheless when it emerged Ferrari meant to interchange their workforce principal Mattia Binotto with Alfa Romeo’s Frederic Vasseur, Sauber board chairman Finn Rausing approached Brown to ask if he would permit Seidl to hitch them early.
“Within the quick tempo of the F1 surroundings it turned clear that Fred was going to go to Ferrari,” mentioned Brown. “Finn Rausing is somebody that I’ve recognized for a decade and get together with very effectively. He gave me a name to see if there was a dialogue available to doubtlessly launch Andreas early.
“My response was if Andrea could be completely satisfied to hitch as workforce principal, then I’d be very completely satisfied to make that change now, which I believe places everybody of their everlasting properties for the foreseeable future. So I went about having a dialog with Andrea, [prior to] him having any consciousness that Andreas was going to maneuver on for the ’26 season.
“After some good conversations Andrea kindly accepted the position, which then put us in a really comfy place to maneuver ahead as a result of Andrea was at all times our primary selection to steer the workforce shifting ahead. So that each one got here collectively fairly quickly and right here we’re with Andrea now as our workforce principal which myself, our drivers, our workforce is extraordinarily enthusiastic about.”
Brown mentioned Seidl let him know his deliberate transfer in “ample time”, and he determined in opposition to requiring to see out a interval of “gardening depart” earlier than becoming a member of their rivals as is widespread observe when senior workers transfer between groups.
“We now have a fantastic relationship, I do know loads of groups play the ‘gardening depart’ card, however I believe as we’ve demonstrated at McLaren, there are methods to dissolve relationships, whether or not that’s with racing drivers or staff, the place you are able to do issues on very workable phrases for everybody.”
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