De Ferran says McLaren success will take time

Gil de Ferran echoes Zak Brown's statement that McLaren's success will "take a while".

It's not been long since de Ferran was appointed new sporting director at McLaren, and he's confident he can help turn McLaren's fortunes around.

McLaren have been going through somewhat of a crisis this season since they parted company with Honda.

Their form was so bad that it led to a complete staff reshuffle - which saw de Ferran take over as sporting director.

"As Zak says, we know that it will take a while to restructure the team," the former Indy 500 champion told Brazil's Globo.

De Ferran has full confidence in the team but knows it will take a while, and he claims he has the complete support of shareholders Bahrain, Mansour Ojjeh and Michael Latifi.

"I have met with them, and I repeat that the support is super," de Ferran explained.

Many people believe that McLaren have too many people in their management structure - like Mercedes did a few years ago.

"Yeah, but it worked out there didn't it?" de Ferran questionned.

There's been speculation surrounding the Brazilian's appointment, with claims he is only there because of Fernando Alonso.

"I would like to believe that the reason I am here is my competence," de Ferran joked.

"He (Alonso) knows what he is talking about. When he says something, it's better to pay attention."