The fresh faces celebrating McLaren’s anniversary
This year is an important year for McLaren. The team reaches an historic milestone as it celebrates 60 years since it was founded by New Zealander Bruce McLaren. Throughout the course of the year, expect to see former classic cars demonstrated and former winners hailed as legends.
All of this will take place without one of the key architects of their recent success. After being head-hunted by Zak Brown back in 2018, former Porsche Le Mans boss Andreas Seidl has departed the team. Under Brown’s leadership, Seidl was a no-nonsense racer who understood the business, both from a technical and sporting perspective. He was instrumental in rekindling the partnership with Mercedes power units and gave the green light to various infrastructure projects such as the new windtunnel.
In 2017 McLaren had slipped to as low as ninth in the constructors’ championship, but under Seidl’s stewardship and with rookie Lando Norris at the wheel, the Woking team rose to fourth in 2019 and third in 2020.
Seidl has already started a new role as CEO at Sauber that will become Audi in 2026, when the new engine formula begins. In his McLaren years, Seidl was mightily impressed with Norris’s natural speed and as the Brit’s current McLaren contract extends only until the end of 2025 – might Seidl be tempted to start the Audi era in ’26 with Lando leading the charge?
The question is whether the Woking team can give the young British driver a car capable of winning races? He was the only driver last year outside of Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes to score a podium (with a third place at Imola). With former race engineer Andrea Stella now promoted from within McLaren to be team manager, it will be interesting to see how the squad progresses. With parallel operations in IndyCar, Formula E and also Extreme E – it’s a very busy time for the firm as it clocks six decades on the race track.
There is another new aspect to the team to contend with. After a protracted legal wrangle with Alpine, rookie Oscar Piastri steps up to make his Formula 1 debut with McLaren in 2023. Managed by former Red Bull winner Mark Webber, the 21-year-old has an impressive pedigree in the junior categories, successively winning the FIA Formula 3 and
F2 titles en route to F1.
Four years and 82 starts since he made his own debut, Norris is no longer the fresh-faced new boy at the team. The next steps, how he handles Piastri, and his long-term prospects will be worth keeping an eye on as the year unfolds.