Inside Line: Keeping track of the rot at McLaren

In September last year, I was told by a McLaren staffer, I have known for years, about the state-of-affairs at Woking and it was not a pretty picture which did not convince everyone that something was amiss in the offices inside the MTC.

But it so happens that what Martin Whitmarsh revealed to the world last month was actually highlighted ten months ago. At the time, the source said there were many people dissatisfied with management and resenting the current leadership which has not won over all the hearts and minds of their own team.

It was definitely a classic case of ‘if there’s smoke blah blah’ so did some sleuthing to come up with this piece published 17 September, 2017:

Unsurprisingly there were the doubters who questioned the Glassdoor quotes. Whatever the case the smoke was there and it turned out to be a bonfire as we now all know.

I will reiterate a line I wrote at the time that still applies: “Irrespective of this I believe that McLaren’s presence in Formula 1 is as important as Ferrari being there.”

In the wake of Eric Boullier’s departure/dismissal (you choose) it is fitting to unload my notes regarding feedback, chats and emails from the collection of sources that on occasions have tipped me off with matters pertaining to the downfall of this great team. Thanks for that, you know who you are.

Interestingly much of the info in the notes I have gathered is now verified by the reshuffle and Zak Brown’s subsequent insights which reveal an organisation in disarray and recently described by their legendary former designer John Barnard as an oil-tanker slowly turning while fortunes on track plummet to historic lows.

The notes below are pretty fresh – sourced over past month or so – but pre-dates the restructuring announced yesterday by McLaren and Brown’s subsequent comments:

Highly political with faction fighting between departments

Toxic atmosphere wherein a blame-game culture prevails

Most of former marketing staff let go. If your face doesn’t fit!

New team brought in, many ex-Just Marketing International (JMI) – Zak Brown’s former marketing company – most coming in with impressive titles and big salaries!

Traditionally former marketing team worked hard with the sponsors with new ideas, now very much left to the agencies, many of which are ex-F1 marketeers!

Hospitality much diminished, but still large number of marketing staff attend races

Little or no passion – unlike previous years when team was winning, under Ron.

Team not encouraged to develop own ideas – just do your job!

Not the attention to detail – not using Ron Dennis methods

Worst dressed team!

Staff not impressed with team kit and merchandise

Has lost the winning culture and it’s notable that very few of old winning team still there

Zak Brown under pressure – now has full responsibility for racing.

ZB has cast last dice, from boss of everything he engineered to head up the Formula 1 operation – now he has to deliver

Zak not present in Austria.

Zak has not brought in any new sponsors of any significance – car bear

Branding for KIMOA – Alonso’s clothing brand barter on the Spaniard’s mega-bucks salary

WTF is a Freddo?

Dismantling the matrix that Martin Whitmarsh instilled to be less dependent on superstar designers such as Adrian Newey.

The last point on Newey is so pertinent right now as the two teams who let him slip through their fingers – Williams and McLaren – are languishing at the wrong end of the grid while the design genius regularly pumps out fantastic race cars. Case in point this year’s Red Bull RB14 versus McLaren MCL33, no contest by a large margin

To illustrate this I asked a contact and friend of mine at McLaren if I could publish the email he sent me regarding his thoughts on Newey in the wake of these latest developments, he agreed but asked that it be done anonymously for obvious reasons. Here it is:

Hi Paul

Good job on the McLaren coverage bit harsh but I can’t fault it and I think quite a few people I know on the F1 race team are jittery.

But I am not writing to you about that!

I was around in the days of Adrian and Ron, I think it is important that history is not twisted around to suit the story.

That Ron did not make Adrian a shareholder or gave him everything he wanted shocked me then and to be honest I am still in shock to this day. It was a big mistake.

I think it was around 1997 when Adrian came on board from Williams, he was a shy and quiet guy but obvious a genius.

We won 98 and 99, but at some point in early 2000 he nearly went to Jag. We found out then that Ron refused to make him a shareholder. Adrian stayed but he was never the same then Christian [Horner] came along and that was that.

RD poo-pooed the move at the time like it was no big deal. Some agreed with him but there were others who could not believe we lost Adrian. I still am!!!

What we have today is directly due to that missed opportunity.

Ron is admired for what he did here at McLaren, great cars, beautiful kit, painting pit garages, great jokes, proper team spirit, and our attitude. We were Boss remember! We were the real deal and the team everyone had to beat. We walked tall. He deserves eternal credit for that.

But even the big boys f@ck up and that cannot be forgotten in light of what history has shown us. RD won’t ever admit it, but if he is intelligent and honest he will agree.

Allowing RB to take Adrian is so inexplicable it makes me question really how good RD actually was.

Imagine that a car designer and recognised talent working for our F1-spawned supercar manufacturer is lured away to work for an energy drinks organisation!!!

That was so f@cking stupid and the day Adrian walked the rot began here. It took a while to manifest but now we have it. Its a friggin morgue.

So true source of today’s problem is RD was shortsighted (stupid???) enough not to lock Adrian into a deal which would probably cost the team a couple of a million quid a year at the time.

I think he gets ten or 12 mil a year from RB, cheap if you think of the wage packages they dish out for our design staff that put together that shitbox.

Instead, they went matrix with Martin, tasked by Ron to the change the culture from Adrian who at the time had a smallish team of hand-picked assistants to what it is now.

It’s a mess! Try pinpoint what is wrong, or in this case who is to blame, when they deliver a shitbox like we have now. Instead, goodbye Tim, Eric and many more trust me… as you say watch this space. LOL!

Matrix means no accountability, faction fighting and pointing fingers. It has not worked.

So there you have it from the horse’s mouth.

Trying times lie ahead for McLaren’s Formula 1 team. Brown at the helm has nowhere to hide. He has talked the talk, now it is time to walk the walk to salvage the mess that began long before he even dreamed of being the team’s boss.

We welcome any feedback from people directly connected to McLaren. Transparency is important in times of change.