A week after it was reported McLaren staff were considering a “revolt” against their bosses, one anonymous employee has revealed stunning details of certain situations which took place at the Woking-based team.
Former boss Martin Whitmarsh gave an interview with the Daily Mail in which he said he still had some contacts with the McLaren and from what he was being told, suggested it was time for a change in leadership and offered himself to return and try to turn their fortunes around.
His comments lead to a sharp response from McLaren, scolding their predecessor, however, now a new article is painting an even worse picture of life within the once great British team.
“For example, we were given two weeks to produce the Spain upgrade package in May,” the anonymous member began.
“We all worked 24/7 to meet the deadline. We got it done in time. So a week later a Freddo was handed out to all staff involved as “a bonus”. Supervisors are embarrassed to hand them out.
“We also got a Freddo last year after building the car.”
To put that into perspective, a team that, at a conservative estimate has a budget of $120m was handing out chocolate bars which cost 25p each and “strictly one each” at that.
McLaren has also struggled to find solutions to problems with their MCL32 car, which has remained mired in the midfield despite switching to Renault engines for 2018, and those at the top are reportedly so unsure of what to do, they had a remarkable idea.
“They told us at the post-Canadian Grand Prix debrief that they knew what was wrong with the car but not how to fix it. They ask us to build prototypes out of wood if they had any ideas when they are on six-figure salaries.”
The article continued: “We call four of the management the “Untouchables”. There is Eric Boullier, racing director, Matt Morris, chief engineer, Simon Roberts, chief operating officer, and David Probyn, operations director. Some of them just walk about chatting. We have no respect for them.
“People are beginning to boycott the debriefs because they are a joke. The atmosphere is toxic. We would like to go on strike but people fear for their jobs.”
Despite the lack of admiration for those in charge, the employee did concede: “McLaren has one of the most loyal and long-serving staff in the entire motorsport industry.
“Our team leaders are free to reward their staff with spontaneous, thoughtful and fun gifts whenever they feel that a job or task is worthy of extra recognition and reward. This was just such an example, alongside so many others that happen on a daily basis.”