McLaren, if you can’t beat them, steal them
Managing director Jonathan Neale confirmed the details of the new team members who have joined them from Red Bull and Lotus.
“We’ve made some very important key additions who’ll have a significant input into our future momentum – we’re incredibly pleased and excited to have hired the likes of Peter Prodromou and Dan Fallows, both from Red Bull Racing, and Ettore Griffini and Ciaron Pilbeam from Lotus, as well as more than a dozen top-level engineers from among the best teams in Formula One, all of whom have seen the capacity and potential that exists here at McLaren."
Pilbeam joins the team after spending one year at Lotus, having previously been Mark Webber’s race engineer at Red Bull.
Rumors persist that Martin Whitmarsh is to be replaced as team principal. Eric Boullier, whose departure from Lotus was announced earlier today, has been linked with the role.
McLaren failed to achieve a single podium finish during their 2013 campaign, for the first time since 1980. “This year will be about developing and growing McLaren to a position where we can once again fight at the front," added Neale.
The team are heading into their final year as a Mercedes engine customer before reuniting with Honda for 2015