Why McLaren opted against playing 'gardening leave card' with Seidl

Ewan Gale
Wednesday 14 December 2022 06:35

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has explained why the team opted against placing Andreas Seidl on gardening leave following his departure as team principal.

Seidl will begin his tenure as Sauber Group CEO in January after moving to partially fill the space left by Fred Vasseur's appointment as team principal at Ferrari.

The German has brought an end to a partnership with Woking-based McLaren that began in 2019 and was expected to continue until at least 2025.

Brown revealed, though, when announcing Andrea Stella as the new team principal, that Seidl was seeking a new opportunity when his contract expired.

But despite the knowledge Seidl has of the ins and outs of McLaren's operations for at least the next season, McLaren decided not to place Seidl on gardening leave and instead allow an instant switch.

READ MORE...McLaren explain timeline of Seidl Stella swap

Asked when Seidl had informed him of his desire to explore pastures new at the end of the contractual period, Brown responded: "He informed me after the first race of the year and before the last race...

"I don't want to get into timing windows, but sufficient time. The initial intention was to continue business as usual.

"As far as gardening leave, we have a great relationship. I know a lot of teams play the gardening leave card.

"But as we have demonstrated at McLaren, there are ways to dissolve relationships, whether that is racing drivers or employees, where you can do things on very workable terms for everyone."