Former Alpine Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer has pointed to McLaren’s acquisition of Rob Marshall from Red Bull as a possible turning point in the battler between the two Formula 1 outfits.
Marshall joined McLaren in January after a 17-year stint at Red Bull that culminated in him being the Milton Keynes-based squad’s Chief Engineering Officer.
As McLaren’s Chief Designer, Marshall has helped guide the papaya squad’s Formula 1 resurgence against previous ground effect ruleset pacesetters Red Bull.
Asked if the hiring of one team member such as Marshall from Red Bull is enough to swing the tide in F1’s competitive order, Szafnauer, speaking on the James Allen on F1 podcast said, “It’s definitely possible for one person to come in and say: ‘The secret sauce at Red Bull was this, you should be looking in this direction.’
“That’s definitely possible.
“When you hear things like the aero performance is unlocked through some mechanical design elements of the car – and you know what those are and how those mechanical design elements actually unlock the performance – you can point that team in that direction to start looking here.
“It’s that direction that you then start looking in and find performance.
“Absolutely one person can can make that difference, especially when you have a massive rule change like we’ve had.”
McLaren is definitely reaping the benefits of Marshall’s important, enjoying a run of 10 straight podiums and outscoring Red Bull across the last four rounds to close within 42 points of the Constructors’ standings leaders.
This comes after Red Bull thoroughly dominated proceedings in 2023, winning all but one race.
McLaren emerged as a challenger for the best of the rest crown in the latter half of last season and has since converted that promise in being a genuine contender for the Constructors’ title.
Szafnauer adds that a key to extracting performance in the current ruleset is balancing aero with mechanical set-up.
“We’re now into ground-effect cars where we weren’t before and if there was some mechanical elements of the car that others didn’t have, then [a performance turnaround] can happen,” he said.
“I’m not saying that’s what it was, but I do think that there’s performance to be had in that area that isn’t pure aerodynamics, but is an aero enabler.”
In addition to Marshall, Red Bull has seen more key figures elect to depart for pastures new in 2024.
Adrian Newey revealed in May that he will leave the reigning champions in the first quarter of 2025 and last week Sporting Director Jonathan Wheatley confirmed he will leave Red Bull at the end of this season to become Audi Team Principal.
Newey’s unknown next team and Audi will be hoping to benefit from the title-touch of these departing red Bull figure heads, just as McLaren is enjoying Marshall’s Milton Keynes knowledge.
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