McLaren Racing hires Rob Marshall as technical director

McLaren Racing has announced Rob Marshall as their new technical director for engineering and design. Marshall is currently Red Bull’s chief engineering officer. He will leave them after 17 years to take up his new role at McLaren on 1 January, 2024.

Marshall has been with Red Bull since 2006 as chief designer, along with Adrian Newey. Marshall helped create the car for Red Bull that won the drivers and constructors’ championships from 2010–2013.

McLaren’s new technical team was created in March as the team moved away from a single executive technical director. Marshall will work alongside Peter Prodromou, technical director for aerodynamics, and David Sanchez. Sanchez joined McLaren from Ferrari in January as technical director for car concept and performance. Marshall’s appointment at McLaren was announced by team principal Andrea Stella.

“With over 25 years working in motorsport, Rob comes to us with a wealth of expertise and experience, elevated by his tenure and track record at Red Bull Racing. Rob’s appointment is one of the fundamental steps and a natural fit to aid the team’s journey to get back to our winning ways. We are a team with the ambition of fighting for championships, but over the last couple of seasons, we have not shown a steady upward trend from an on-track competitiveness point of view,” Stella stated.

McLaren is currently ranked sixth in the 2023 constructors’ championship. The team is looking to make appropriate changes to challenge the top teams in Formula 1.