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McLaren F1 chief reveals ‘high calibre’ signings having impact

The team have made a few changes

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 26 January 2024 13:57 Updated: 17:12

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has praised the impact that signings Rob Marshall and David Sanchez have had on the Woking-based team since their arrival.

Red Bull's former chief designer Marshall was snapped up by McLaren last year, while Sanchez has also been lured by the team, having previously been Ferrari's head of concept.

McLaren enjoyed a fantastic turnaround in 2023, finishing the season in fifth in the constructors' championship with nine podiums between their two talented young drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, despite looking like one of the slower teams in the early part of the year.

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Heading into the upcoming 2024 season, McLaren hope to turn at least one of those young drivers into a grand prix winner, and challenge the dominant Red Bull team for the world championship.

David Sanchez was with Ferrari as head of concept before being lured to McLaren

Rob Marshall previously worked as Red Bull's chief designer

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri formed a brilliant partnership in 2023

McLaren in the mix for race wins in 2024

Now, Stella has revealed quite how important Marshall and Sanchez, alongside technical director Peter Prodromou, have been in trying to push McLaren towards their first constructors' championship title since 1998.

“Definitely what we can see is that they come with quite a lot of knowledge, no surprise," he told Autosport.

“They've been part of great teams, great projects, and the good thing is that this knowledge, I think we see that it integrates with what we knew and with our know-how.

“So it's not like, ‘Oh we should do things in this way, which is opposite to what you do.’ Instead, it’s ‘we can do things in this way, which adds a little bit to what you do.’ This was quite refreshing in a way.

“We have a 2024 car, and we are already setting the basis for how we evolve the ‘24 into the ‘25,” Stella continued. “And then there's a 2026 project with completely new technical regulations.

“So there's so much work that we need to go through, and it is very important to now have these high calibres leading their respective technical areas.

"This means that we have the capacity, the capability, and the competence to approach these three big projects with the horsepower required to compete at the top of Formula 1.”

Red Bull Ferrari McLaren Lando Norris Oscar Piastri Andrea Stella