F1: McLaren poaches key engineer for Red Bull

Red Bull faces an exodus of technicians due to the cost cap says Dr. Helmut Marko.

“The budget cap in this sense is not a small problem, especially for the numbers being offered. Sometimes these are 𝙙𝙤𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙚 what we currently pay the technicians in question”

–Press Release–

McLaren Racing today announced the appointment of Rob Marshall as Technical Director, Engineering & Design within its Formula 1 team. Rob will join the team on 1 January 2024.

This role will sit within the F1 Technical Executive team, alongside Peter Prodromou and David Sanchez, reporting directly into Team Principal Andrea Stella.

Rob will be supported by Neil Houldey in the newly created role of Deputy Technical Director, Engineering & Design, to complete the senior technical structure. Rob and Neil will collaborate to assess and establish the highest technical standards, required to design winning F1 cars.

Rob joins McLaren after 17 years with Red Bull Racing, most notably as Chief Engineering Officer. His appointment is one of the fundamental steps taken by the team to underpin their journey towards the front of the grid.

Andrea Stella, Team Principal, McLaren F1, said:

“I am incredibly pleased that Rob will be joining McLaren. 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. Over the last few months, we have worked towards inverting this trend. The approach we have adopted is comprehensive and is based on strengthening the team from a people and expertise point of view, along with the ongoing projects to upgrade technology and infrastructure that will shortly come to fruition.

“People and culture are our most important resource. We have recently invested and worked towards developing and empowering the internal talents available at McLaren, and we already perceive and measure the positive impact. In parallel, we have been strengthening our roster by bringing new talents on board. The list was already strong and encouraging, and the addition of a high-end and skilled individual like Rob will further consolidate our ability to establish the highest technical standards at McLaren and be in condition to design winning F1 cars.

“We look forward to welcoming Rob in the near future.”

Red Bull Press Release

Oracle Red Bull Racing today announces that Chief Engineering Officer Rob Marshall is to leave the team at the end of 2023, bringing to an end almost two decades as a member of the Team’s technical department.

Rob will step back from his current role with immediate effect and join the McLaren Formula 1 team next January, where he will become Chief Designer, a role he held at Red Bull Racing from 2006 until 2016.

Joining Red Bull Racing from Renault whom he helped to the 2005 Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship, Rob’s talents were felt most significantly as Chief Designer of a generation of cars that brought the Team its first major successes in Formula 1.

Following significant regulation changes in F1, Rob’s work on the RB5 helped the team to its first grand prix victories in 2009. Building on that platform, he played a key role in what proved to be a remarkable period of dominance for the young team as it won four consecutive Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship doubles between 2010 and 2013.

In 2016 after a decade as Chief Designer, Rob took a wider role across the group with the newly created position of Chief Engineering Officer. The new remit, which most recently included Red Bull Powertains, helped return the Team to race-winning competitiveness following the 2014 introduction of hybrid power to the sport.

Paying tribute to Rob’s time at the Team, Oracle Red Bull Racing Team Principal and CEO Christian Horner said: “We would like to thank Rob for everything he has done for the Team over the past 17 years. His work on the generation of cars that gave us four incredible championship doubles between 2010 and 2013 was truly outstanding. In the years since he has continued to be a key figure at the Team and in 2016 took on the broader role of Chief Engineering Officer which has seen him involved in other projects across the business. His influence will be missed but once again we thank him for all he has done and wish him the very best in his new role.”