Why "everyone wants to be part" of McLaren's F1 rebuild

Whether you want to call McLaren a fallen giant or a just sleeping one, it has to be said CEO Zak Brown and new team principal Andrea Stella are leaving no stone unturned to wake it back up.

After noticing his team was falling behind on development through 2022, Brown gave Stella the remit to come up with a new technical structure, replacing technical director James Key and empowering a triumvirate of Neil Houldey, Peter Prodromou and Ferrari returnee David Sanchez to man the key battle stations in engineering and design, aerodynamics and car concept.

Their respective technical teams are being bolstered, too, with Motorsport.com reporting earlier that deals have been made with 15 engineers, some who have joined already and some who are serving gardening leave like Sanchez.

Among those joining is long-time aero expert Mariano Alperin, who joins from Aston Martin, and more staff from top teams Ferrari and Red Bull.

While McLaren remains tight-lipped on the identity of its reinforcements, it is clear that its recruitment has been aggressive and that it appears to be successful in convincing top talent to join.

"In our interviews McLaren has always come across like a very exciting prospect for the people we have interviewed, and everyone understands the ambition we have," Stella said when Autosport asked him in Australia about the challenge of attracting rival talent.

"Everyone understands that if we turn the situation around that McLaren, we are making history, and everyone wants to be part of it, so I wouldn't say that attracting talent has been complicated.

"The effect of the change of model is too recent to actually affect the process of recruitment. Let me just add that the way we have approached the recruitment overall is part of this philosophy of our performance-led organisation.

"And even the way you recruit people you think about performance, which means we are aggressive from this point of view, as required to compete in Formula 1."

Zak Brown, CEO, McLaren Racing, in the team principals Press Conference

Photo by: FIA Pool

A major asset in McLaren's recruitment pitch is fresh investment behind the scenes, which has allowed it to finally upgrade its ageing facilities after a pandemic-enforced delay.

In the Ron Dennis era, Woking's McLaren Technology Centre was the envy of the F1 world, a futuristic temple featuring the latest equipment and technology.

But if you wait long enough even the future becomes the past.

Many of the MTC's crown jewels have since become dated and its wind tunnel obsolete, relying on a suboptimal deal to truck parts to Toyota's tunnel in Cologne.

But the new wind tunnel has finally completed, coming on stream in June after the necessary calibration work. Its new simulator and manufacturing unit will follow later this year.

Brown didn't want McLaren's infrastructure deficit to become a tired excuse. After all, the desire to unleash more performance out of team's existing resources is what prompted its technical reshuffle.

But it is clear that the new facilities leave McLaren in a much better position to compete. Not just on the track, but also on the job market. McLaren appears to be a project people want to be a part of. An enticing engineering challenge.