Why McLaren's winning formula doesn't rely on a single 'dictator'

After more than fifteen years without success, McLaren has finally made its mark in Formula 1 starting last year, winning a constructors’ title that had been missing since 2008 with Lewis Hamilton and since 1998 for the constructors.

Certainly thanks to the duo Zak Brown and Andrea Stella, crowning a project that began between the end of 2022 and the start of 2023, and which had already seen a clear improvement on track that year after a difficult start to the season.

Another major milestone was reached with the arrival of Rob Marshall, a historic figure from Red Bull’s dominant years, who joined the British team at the beginning of 2024 initially as technical director, and then as chief designer following a reorganization of the technical staff structure.

In fact, starting in April of last year, McLaren opted for a unique top-level approach, appointing three technical directors, all reporting to Marshall.

Following David Sanchez’s exit in May of last year, who now works as Executive Technical Director for Alpine, McLaren reshuffled its leadership: Neil Houldey took on the role of Technical Director of Engineering, Mark Temple was elevated to oversee performance, and Peter Prodromou assumed responsibility for aerodynamics.

A move that proved successful, judging by the on-track results and the dominance of the MCL-39 project, even though this is the final year of the current regulations cycle.

"I still remember when we announced that we were going from one to three technical directors, there were so many questions about who makes the decisions,'' Stella told in conversation with motorsport.com.

The Italian manager finally explained how the team chose to divide responsibilities across multiple roles rather than relying on a single “dictator.”

"Decisions normally tend to be just a critical mass of information accumulated, rather than having a dictator that at some stage will make a decision,'' he said.