James Key will join McLaren
The recruitment of Toro Rosso's technical director, James Key, by McLaren has been confirmed by the team itself.
The Woking team has confirmed that it has indeed hired the technical director of the Toro Rosso team for the same position within its team. James Key, who has held this position since 2012 at Toro Rosso, will have to observe a notice period before joining McLaren. The Briton is highly regarded in the paddock and was once linked to a move to Red Bull or Ferrari.
He will replace the former head of engineering, Matt Morris, who is expected to leave the team soon. This confirms in any case the deep restructuring of McLaren that has already been underway for several months. This renewal began with the departure of the chassis technical director Tim Goss in April, followed by the resignation of the race director Éric Boullier last month.
Goss has since been replaced in his position by Andrea Stella, who was previously the performance director. As for Boullier, former driver Gil de Ferran took his place after holding a consulting position at McLaren.
The CEO of the team, Zak Brown, stated about this restructuring and the recruitment of James Key: « It is a proactive and continuous process that takes into account a wide range of factors across the organization. More details will be provided in due course. »
His numerous changes had been made necessary after a difficult period during the collaboration with Honda. Moreover, the switch to the Renault engine also did not provide the team with the expected progress, due to a chassis that was far from perfect. The future prospects are not any more encouraging according to its director Zak Brown, who estimates that it will take McLaren 2 to 10 years to return to the top.
The 46-year-old engineer began his career at Jordan in 1998, gradually climbing the ranks. He then continued to work within the structure that later became Spyker and then Force India. In 2010, Key joined the Sauber team and was one of the main contributors to the successful transition following BMW’s departure, with the team even achieving the feat of returning to podium finishes. It was finally in 2012 that he joined the Italian team Toro Rosso.
James Key has always produced good cars given the limited budget he had at Toro Rosso. His departure is a significant blow for the Faenza team, which will need to quickly find a replacement. This also represents a certain shock for Red Bull, which was undoubtedly counting on Key to succeed Adrian Newey as his retirement approaches rapidly.
