McLaren’s dramatic push to return to the front of the field is certainly ramping up in pace, with the Woking-based side having announced the signing of Aston Martin’s head of aero performance Mariano Alperin.
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown is certainly wasting no time at all, after announcing that a huge restructuring would be taking place at Woking.
It’s understood by Motorsport.com that McLaren have agreed deals with 15 new employees, all of which will work under the team’s aero department.
Reports state that the British side have signed key figures from Aston Martin, Red Bull and Ferrari, demonstrating Brown’s intent on turning 2023 around.
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McLaren are one of two teams yet to score a single point so far this season, after a disastrous opening two rounds of the 2023 F1 season.
It was only last week that McLaren announced the departure of technical director James Key and the signing of Ferrari’s now former head of vehicle concept David Sanchez, who will join the team in 2024 following a period of gardening leave.
Sanchez isn’t the only new signing to have entered a period of gardening leave, whilst others have been able to get straight into work at McLaren.
Alperin in particular is a huge signing for McLaren, given that he’s played an integral part in turning Aston Martin from a lower-midfield team into a sudden frontrunner.
Aston Martin are really the only team currently capable of challenging Red Bull, highlighting the immense job that’s been done by the Silverstone-based team.
Before working at Aston Martin, Alperin has spent time with the likes of BAR, Honda and Sauber, before moving to Silverstone in 2019 to become their chief of aerodynamic technology.
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Brown will be hopeful that the sudden restructuring will elevate McLaren back towards the front, after believing that the side’s structure needed to be changed to “match our ambition”.
“It has been clear to me for some time that our technical development has not moved at a quick enough pace to match our ambition of returning to the front of the grid,” Brown said, as per Motorsport.com.
“I’m pleased that, having completed a full review with Andrea, we are now able to implement the restructure required to set the wheels in motion to turn this around.”