McLaren have confirmed that they will launch legal action against Red Bull in the High Court over an employment dispute.
The Woking team believes it has a legally-binding employment contract for aerodynamicist Dan Fallows to work for them, however Red Bull announced last week that he would return to work for the Milton Keynes based team.
McLaren got its lawyers involved in the matter and, with Red Bull and Fallows providing no answers, they have decided to take the matter to court.
“Sadly, it’s now likely that McLaren will have no alternative other than to pursue a High Court action against Red Bull, which will ask very serious questions as to that team’s integrity and sense of fair play,” team chairman Ron Dennis told Autosport.
McLaren say Fallows signed an employment contract to begin working with them in March, but that didn’t happen and they were only notified when their rival sent out a statement confirming Fallows as their new head of aerodynamics.
“He had no legal basis on which to make that U-turn because he’d already formally accepted, and contracted himself to, our offer of employment,” added Dennis.
“Worse, our attempts to contact him were met with stony silence. The mystery was only solved many weeks later, when he was suddenly announced as Red Bull’s head of aero.”
