Apr
In McLaren’s current three-headed technical structure, Rob Smedley has spotted a prospective risk.
Rob Smedley, an earlier Ferrari engineer, has cautioned that McLaren’s latest Formula 1 technical setup might leave them “dead in the water.”
Despite being on gardening depart until January 2024, the squad revealed in March that Technical Director James Key had left the organization. His position was divided among three technical members, led by Peter Prodromou, Neil Houldley, and newly arrived David Sanchez from Ferrari.
Engineer Smedley, a former Ferrari and Williams employee, compares it to the outdated McLaren structure that CEO Zak Brown left behind, and he thinks it poses potential risks for the squad as it tries to break into the top four.
Smedley’s McLaren caution
Prodromou, Houldley, and Sanchez will each be in charge of a certain area of the technical division, although Smedley doesn’t think the lack of a technical director generally poses a big issue, he does think things could go wrong if the three don’t work well together.
On the F1 Nation podcast, Smedley said, “There’s obvious demarcation as to the areas where they’re going to be making decisions.
“What you’ve got is [Team Principal] Andrea [Stella] whose job now is to make sure that all three of them are collaborating well together, and that you don’t get into a situation where one of them or two of them are looking at the other and thinking: ‘That’s a bit of a weak link.’
“‘We’re probably going to have to override some of the decisions’ and once you get into that, then you’re dead in the water.
“You need all three to be operating at a very high level, a high functioning team who rely on each other so that you get this synergetic effect – and that’s what brings you a good car.”
Teams have become overly big
Due to the expansion of the teams, Smedley has also noticed changes in the technical director’s responsibilities.
“The single technical director [role], the teams are too big now,” he said.
“They’re just way too big, the technical organisation, the levels of detail and a technical director within a Formula 1 team is still operational.
“It’s not somebody who is navigating where the chips are going to be sewn in the next 10 years or what technology you’re going to bring in – that’s what we’d call the Chief Technical Officer.”
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F1, F1 2023, FIA, Formula 1, FIA Grand Prix, IndyCar, McLaren, Zak Brown, Rob Smedley
