McLaren will have a new leader on the pitwall at the Spanish Grand Prix as Andreas Seidl takes over as team principal.

The former head of Porsche's LMP1 program in WEC joined the Woking-based outfit earlier this year but last week marked his first week as the head of the Formula 1 team.

And as he prepares to take the helm in Barcelona, Seidl is keen to get settled in as quickly as possible.

"I'm delighted to have now started at McLaren and I've had a really warm welcome from everyone in the team," he said.

"During my first few days I've been speaking to as many people around the factory as possible and this will continue over coming weeks as I get to know the team."

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His arrival comes as McLaren enjoys a strong start to 2019 with three top-eight finishes putting them fourth in the Constructors' Championship.

But now will come the test to see if they have improved from last year as the development race kicks off.

"In Spain, we'll look to build on the performance shown in the first few races, however, we know the field is extremely tightly packed," Seidl noted.

"The start of the European season is traditionally where teams bring upgrades, so it's hard to say where the grid will line up this weekend, but we will continue to focus on developing our package and improve the car in key areas.

"As always, the objective during the weekend will be on ensuring strategy, operations and reliability are as strong as they can be."