Sleepless nights ahead for McLaren - De Ferran

Gil de Ferran says he expects to endure several sleepless nights as he plots McLaren's recovery in Formula 1. The former Indianapolis 500 winner was appointed sporting director this week after former racing director Eric Boullier handed in his resignation.

McLaren's switch from Honda to Renault power units has failed to deliver a promised improvement in performance, Boullier paying the price with his job.

CEO Zak Brown warned that McLaren's return to the fight for honours could take up to a decade, and De Ferran is under no illusions as to the scale of the ask at hand.

"It's clear to me that in the team there is a lot of talent.

"Wherever I look I see smart guys. Guys that have been here a long time, those that are younger and newer, and there is certainly a lot of talent and brain power.

"As Zak said, the key area is to communicate and bring clarity to certain things. Hopefully that will help move forward.

"The success I had behind the wheel, and any success I had as a business man, came from really trying to understand where my weaknesses were.

"I was not one to be afraid to look in the mirror and say 'I could have done better here' and 'I could have done better there. What do I need to do to improve?'

"The second thing is I realised very early on in my life that success never comes along [on its own]. You don't have success by yourself. Very few people are able to achieve many things in life by themselves.

"Most of them are part of a team and so knowing how to put a team together, working together and getting people to feel focused and motivated and really understand where they're going and truly engage [is key]. The best ideas come when you're in the middle of the night thinking about all the good stuff for the next day.

"This is how I personally operate and this is the philosophy I'm bringing to my job. Originally as an advisor to Zak, that's how I was looking at things and now I have an opportunity to do this with more responsibility."