Staff at McLaren’s factory in Woking are “furious” with the team’s current leadership and want former chief Martin Whitmarsh to return, according to a report in the Daily Mail.
Despite claims that a switch from Honda engines to Renault for 2018 would solve their lack of competitiveness, that has not necessarily been the case with the team struggling over a single lap in qualifying and still well short of their hopes of fighting at the front.
Results have been a little more consistent with Fernando Alonso scoring points in each of the first five races but reliability problems have forced the Spaniard out of the last two while Stoffel Vandoorne finished second-last in Canada a week ago.
It was the performance last weekend in Montreal that was reportedly the final straw for those back at base, with the British newspaper claiming staff were left shocked by the “incompetence of their leaders” after racing director Eric Boullier failed to provide an explanation for their lack of pace.
Now speculation suggests they could approach ex-team principal Whitmarsh, who remains in close contact with majority shareholder Mansour Ojjeh, with the Briton claiming it wouldn’t be for the first time since Zak Brown took over in 2016.
“People at McLaren said they would send me a letter about the situation. I told them not to send it to me, but to Mansour,” he said.
Whitmarsh, who had a brief role with the Formula One Group and has been working with Ben Ainsley’s Americas Cup sailing team since leaving McLaren in 2014, also admitted his own disappointment at the team’s slump.
“I love the team and I am desperately sad to see what it has become,” he said.
“It needs a big change of approach. There is too much politics between the main figures. I think a number of them have to go. I have explained my view to Mansour and it is for the shareholders to decide what to do.
“I live locally and I bump into friends who work at McLaren. They are disappointed with what is happening and remonstrate with me.
“Tim Goss’s departure pitched me over the edge. Tim has a fantastic intellect and is a hard-working, non-political, value-adding member of the team. He was scapegoated. He may not have all the answers, but he would work on a solution from first principles.”
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Another thing that frustrates him is Brown’s apparent focus on projects outside of F1.
“The team used to be all about winning in F1. Now they are looking at other avenues — going to race in IndyCar and Le Mans, for example. They are great things in themselves, but McLaren going in that direction, rather than making Grand Prix racing their sole priority, makes me shudder,” he stated.
As for whether Whitmarsh would consider returning to Woking…
“If a delegation showed up at my door, I wouldn’t turn them away,” he added. “They know where I am.”
