Why Rob Marshall left Red Bull Racing and chose McLaren

At the beginning of 2023, it was announced that Rob Marshall’s time at Red Bull Racing would come to an end. After 17 years of loyal service, Marshall closed the door behind him for a new adventure at McLaren.

Marshall had worked at Red Bull Racing as Chief Engineering Officer in his final years, but had also served as Chief Designer during the period when Red Bull Racing won titles with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

In 2023, however, a new challenge came his way with an offer from McLaren. Andrea Stella had just been appointed as the new team principal by Zak Brown, and it was time for a change in the technical management. James Key, the former technical director, was pushed aside in favor of a technical trio consisting of Peter Prodromou, Rob Marshall, and David Sanchez. Sanchez soon left in 2024, but Marshall stayed—and with success.

Why Rob Marshall chose McLaren

''Well, you can only go and work for someone that wants you to work there, so that's one thing," begins Marshall candidly in conversation with GPblog.

''It's flattering to be asked to work somewhere, but when you look at the grid, there are only a few teams with real, proper heritage and long-lasting, proven history. Ferrari has it in abundance, so does McLaren, and so does Williams.''

''I think Alpine has a claim to it, but as an organization, they’ve changed their name so many times. Still, there are a couple of names that have been competing at the sharp end of motorsport on and off for a long time. They just change the color of their shirts often, but they’ve been doing it for a long time.''

''But McLaren’s name, the drivers who’ve raced for McLaren, the history, the controversy—lots of people are McLaren fans. And you ask them why they’re McLaren fans, and it's like, ‘oh, because of Senna and Prost,’ or because of Hakkinen. It's not necessarily just because of Lando and Oscar.''

''Red Bull fans, for example, are fans of the present. If you ask a Red Bull fan why they're a Red Bull fan now, and unfairly, not many of them will say ‘because of [Sebastian] Vettel’ or ‘because of Max [Verstappen].’ Not only is their history not as long or diverse, it just doesn’t seem as important to anyone. Even though their recent history has been phenomenal.''

''I think probably the same with Mercedes. Mercedes has a fantastic recent history, but people don’t look back on Mercedes in the same way as they would look back with fondness on Williams' history, even though Williams has been in a bit of a performance limbo for quite a few years.''

''A lot of people love Williams, and a lot of people would like Williams to do well, myself included. Motorsport would be better with Williams doing better. Williams is getting better, which is good. Don’t want them to get too much better, just a little bit (laughs). I’d much prefer racing at Williams than for a team that doesn’t really matter that much. If you’re fighting against Williams and Ferrari, that would be fantastic.''

The influence of Zak Brown and Andrea Stella

However, it wasn’t Williams, but McLaren that secured Marshall’s services. With Andrea Stella, Zak Brown found his ideal team principal for McLaren and a clear direction was set forward. Big names were brought in, but it also became about the McLaren DNA.

The McLaren DNA remained a much-discussed topic in 2024, especially in discussions about the drivers, where McLaren chose to have Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri race against each other. Team orders, or the eventual "papaya rules," all focus on the team’s best interest.

''It was totally not what I expected, and that’s a good thing," says Marshall about McLaren’s DNA. "From the outside, for many years, McLaren was considered just a grey place where grey people went to work. There was basically a sort of undertone of misery throughout the whole place. And apparently, it was like that for a while. But it’s not always been like that. It wasn’t like that when I started, and it’s definitely not like that now. The atmosphere is brilliant, honestly.''

''Andrea [Stella] is an inspirational leader, but genuinely cares for everyone. And I mean, Zak [Brown] just makes me laugh every time I speak to him. He’s just so charismatic and enthusiastic. He’s a great leader, both of them are, apparently.''

McLaren's 'grey' image stems mainly from the era of Ron Dennis. The former team boss, CEO and co-owner of McLaren was an advocate of the colour grey in the office. It would ensure that employees could focus on their work and not get distracted by other things. A phenomenon Adrian Newey described in his book about the period at the Woking-based team.

Under Stella and Brown, there was clearly a change within the team and in the factory. For Marshall, that was important for his move to the team, just as the presence of the two leaders was important.

Why Marshall left Red Bull Racing

''From a personal point of view, they asked me at the right time. I was at a point where I thought, if I don’t move to another team now, I’m probably here forever," he reflects. "I was happy to be there forever. I really enjoyed my time at Red Bull, it was a great place to work, but then you get to the stage where you’re going stale, you’re in denial.''

''I think I was finding stuff a bit too easy, a bit too comfortable. You knew everybody, you had to get everything done. It was all a bit slick. And I'm thinking, well, you know, five, six, seven years, that'd be happier, then I retire. And then the phone rings saying, ‘do you want to leave?’. And you're about to say, ‘no’. And for some reason, you just can't.'

''Because at that point, you kind of go, ‘yeah, I've been kidding myself. I think it's probably time to go’. And at that point, you're going. If there's any doubt, you're going. I don't think you can turn back. If you've thought about it long and hard. If you think long and hard about leaving, then you're gone.''

''Now I'm absolutely glad I went, and I'm really happy that I left Red Bull the right way. You'd like to think no one wants to be indispensable but they've clearly been able to manage without me, which is great for them.''

''You don't want to leave anywhere in the lurch. I thought I had a really good career there, really enjoyed it and I'm now really really enjoying at McLaren. I think I'm enjoying it as much here now in my first year as I did in the first first few years at Red Bull, which were the you know like the fun part.''

In the exclusive interview with GPblog, Rob Marshall also explained why he gave up a fine job at Rolls-Royce for Formula 1 and also told the secret behind McLaren's current success. You can read all that and more soon on GPblog.com!