Allan McNish has explained what he calls a “no brainer” decision to take up the role of Racing Director at the Audi Formula 1 team.
McNish has a long history with Audi, since his one disappointing season in F1 with Toyota abruptly ended at the conclusion of the 2002 season.
Moving back to Endurance Racing with Audi, he won Le Mans three times, before taking up management roles at the conclusion of his racing career in 2013.
Fresh from the announcement that McNish would run the Young Driver Development programme, he was then installed as Racing Director following the departure of Jonathan Wheatley.
Explaining his decision to re-enter the F1 paddock, this time in management, McNish revealed a change in mindset.
“When I retired from racing in 2013, I was asked the same question, and I said I would never be involved in team management or anything else, because you’d have to deal with drivers like me, and I knew how difficult I was,” he said in Miami.
“But the reality is that things change, life changes, so the rule of that is to never say never.
“I’ve known this project since day one. I’ve been involved in it from literally the beginning in different roles, so on that side, it was quite obvious for me; being in Melbourne and seeing that car race for the first time was definitely a special moment.
“And it was a no-brainer from my personal perspective when I got the telephone call and then went to have the discussion, that yes, 100%. Because again, I’ve lived it from day one, so why wouldn’t I?”]
Clear definition of roles at Audi
McNish then explained the differences between himself and CEO Mattia Binotto, confirming the clear dividing lines between the pair.
“Mattia is the team principal – he’s the CEO, I’m the racing director,” he said.
“So effectively, he covers off power unit and also everything in Hinwil as you would expect, coming from his experience of power unit and his understanding of the team principal role.
“I focus on everything we do here [at the track] in terms of race opperations, and at the same time, still cover all of the driver development programme, which we started at the beginning of the year, and another thing called legends, which is the post-racing director stuff. But that’s something that is for the future.
“In terms of that, at this moment in time, he is there as support, and fantastic support, as opposed to necessarily being directly involved in the role that I do.”
McNish has walked into a highly challenging role, a team now radically transformed, running its own inaugural power unit. His decisions over the year will have a monumental impact for years to come.
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