Earlier this week McLaren announced that James Key, current technical director at Toro Rosso, would be joining the Woking-based team. Since then, Helmut Marko has hit back claiming Key is still under contract at Toro Rosso. Today, he announced that Toro Rosso aren't prepared to release him early from his contract.
It is understood that McLaren boss Zak Brown was talking to Red Bull about signing James Key. But it appears Marko is keen to block the deal.
"He has a long-term contract with Toro Rosso," Marko told Motorsport.
"We had a discussion with Zak, and instead of coming back to us, there was a press release done. So we'll stick to the contract and McLaren will have to wait for quite a long time."
Due to the contract that Key is under, fans began to speculate about a deal involving money and junior driver Lando Norris. When asked about this, Marko was quick to shut the speculation down.
"It's a very clear situation, if they don't put him in an F1 seat by September 30th, he is free, so what do you want to deal?" Helmut Marko added.
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