NEW MCLAREN RECRUIT AIMS TO HELP TURN TEAM AROUND
As boullier resigns from team, defer ran plans to aid recovery
New Mclaren sporting director Gil de Ferran says he will use his personal philosophy of self-improvement to help the beleaguered Formula 1 team recover from its poor start to 2018.
The 2000 and ’01 Champ Car champion, who was briefly the sporting director of the Honda F1 team of the mid-2000s, was appointed by Mclaren following Eric Boullier’s resignation in the build-up to the British Grand Prix.
De Ferran believes he can use the process of self-criticism and selfimprovement that helped him be a successful driver to help Mclaren recover from the serious aerodynamic problems that have blighted its season.
“The success I had behind the wheel and any success I have as a business man, I think came from really trying to understand what my weaknesses were,” de Ferran explained.
“I was not afraid to look in the mirror and say, ‘I could have done better here, I could have done better there, what do I need to do to improve?’
“Very few people are able to achieve many things in life by themselves, most of them are part of a team. So knowing how to get a team together, working together and getting people to feel focused and motivated and really understand where they are going, and truly engage really.
De Ferran said he is “personally more prepared, wiser, more experienced” from the 11 years that have passed since he last worked in F1 and, having also run his own team in the American Le Mans Series, feels “ready for the challenge” of helping Mclaren.
“It’s clear to me that the team has a lot of talent,” he added.
Boullier has not been directly replaced in his role, with that instead being spilt between de Ferran and Andrea Stella being promoted from head of race operations to the job of performance director.
“Our structure and ways of working is what has got us to where we are today,” said team CEO Zak Brown. “I am confident that this is a great starting point in our journey.”
Brown added that it was no surprise that Boullier left the team.
“I spent a lot of time with the team, a lot of time with Eric, who is someone I’ve known a long time,” he said.
“Obviously we’ve been under a lot of pressure and underperforming for too long. So Eric and I have had many conversations around how we can improve Mclaren, conversations in the past around what is the best way to do that.
“Ultimately he wants what is best for Mclaren, as we all do, so when he made his decision it was not a surprise.”