Former McLaren Racing CEO, Martin Whitmarsh, will join Aston Martin as group chief executive officer, overseeing the ‘performance technologies’ division.
Whitmarsh is best known for his years with McLaren, when he replaced team co-founder Ron Dennis as team principal in 2009. However following a strong of disappointing campaigns, he was ousted with Dennis returning in 2014.
Since then Whitmarsh has held several high-profile roles, becoming chief executive officer of Olympic yachtsman Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup challenge team, joining the global advisory board of Formula E and acting as a consultant to the FIA.
Whitmarsh is also part of the Hamilton Commission launched by seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in 2020 to increase diversity in motorsport.
In his new role with Aston Martin, Whitmarsh will “develop, apply and take to market the group’s technical capabilities and intellectual property”.
“I am very pleased to announce that Martin will be joining us as Group Chief Executive Officer of the new Aston Martin Performance Technologies, from October 1st 2021,” said executive chairman Lawrence Stroll.
“Martin will enjoy senior leadership responsibility and will assist and support me in setting the new strategic direction for Aston Martin Performance Technologies and its subsidiaries, including the crucial objective of leading the transformation of Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team into a Formula One World Championship-winning organisation within the next four to five years, and evolving it into a £1 billion business over a similar time period.
“Martin has enjoyed a long, successful and high-profile career, spanning the motorsport, automotive, aerospace, marine and renewable-energy sectors. Moreover, he is a proven winner in Formula One. He is therefore the ideal person for the job of working with me and our senior management team to lead and inspire our workforce to future success both on and off track.”
Whitmarsh added: “I am delighted to have been appointed by Lawrence to the position of Group Chief Executive Officer of the new Aston Martin Performance Technologies, from October 1st 2021.
“I have known and admired Lawrence for many years, and I have always been extremely impressed by his formidable business acumen and his seemingly inexhaustible ambition. Equally, I have always respected ‘Team Silverstone’, if I can call it that, which has often punched above its weight under its various previous incarnations, and which now has the weight with which to punch harder than ever before.
“Lawrence intends Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team to win Formula One World Championships, plain and simple, and I would not have joined him in that endeavour unless I was utterly convinced that it was an entirely achievable aim. I know what it takes to win in Formula One, and, inspired by Lawrence’s leadership and backed by the skill, passion and resolve of the workforce, I intend to do whatever I can to make sure that our team becomes the winning operation that Lawrence is determined that it should be.
“Last but far from least, I am very enthused about the formation of the new Aston Martin Performance Technologies, under which corporate umbrella Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team will sit, and I am excited about the prospect of developing and applying our technical capabilities and intellectual property as a successful and profitable new business.”
Whimpmarsh should feel right at home with Aston Martin. That is, until the team is sold.