McLaren recently announced a major overhaul of its technical department, coming in the wake of a disastrous start to the season. One of the casualties of the reworking was the departure of technical director James Key after four years with the team. Apparently, the “Key” to success was not “James.”
Key’s technical duties will be split between a three-man team of Peter Prodromou (aerodynamics), David Sanchez (car concept and performance), and Neil Houldey (engineering and design). These changes raise the question, or questions: Was Key overworked, or just bad at his job? Or both?
McLaren’s shakeup confirms what their horrible start to the season suggested: they whiffed mightily on their attempts to build not only a fast car but a competitive one as well. Scoreless in the first two races, the best finish Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri could muster was a 15th by the rookie Piastri at Saudi Arabia. Pretty remarkable and inexcusable for a team that challenged to the very end of 2022 for fourth in the constructor standings. McLaren has, in fact, been fast in one area this year, and that’s going downhill.
McLaren chief executive officer Zak Brown said of the changes, “It’s important now that we ensure we have a solid foundation as the next phase of our journey.”
He continued with a mix of word salad, corporate speak, and cliched drivel that was not surprising, yet at the same time was surprising – but only because it didn’t contain the word “synergy.” In fact, Brown’s words could have been created by an artificial intelligence bot tasked with creating a speech using “annoying and overused corporate jargon spoken by a CEO who needs to deflect blame.” Brown’s motivational speech could have possibly been made with a backdrop of one of those inspirational “Hang In There” posters.
Translation: “If this doesn’t work out, I’m next.”
The organizational changes should not be considered a huge surprise. McLaren’s leadership changes came on the heels of an offseason in which they admitted to missing developmental targets during the offseason. Even two-time world champion Mika Hakkinen said the team would need “a couple of years” before they could expect to be competitive again. And Hakkinen said this well before McLaren’s organizational shakeup. So, regarding McLaren’s issues, to say “we saw this coming” is quite applicable, but I don’t think anyone expected it to be so…
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