Rob Marshall explains big decision to leave Red Bull for McLaren

Oliver Harden
Max Verstappen leads Lando Norris on track in Mexico

Max Verstappen (Red Bull RB20) leads Lando Norris (McLaren MCL38) at the 2024 Mexican Grand Prix

McLaren chief designer Rob Marshall has explained his decision to leave Red Bull in 2023, revealing he is pleased to have departed the team “the right way.”

Marshall made an instant impact in his first season with McLaren in F1 2024, with the team lifting their first Constructors’ Championship in 26 years.

Rob Marshall on swapping Red Bull for McLaren

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri claimed a combined total of six victories across the season as McLaren saw off Ferrari by 14 points, with reigning champions Red Bull slipping to a disappointing third.

The signing of Marshall after a 17-year stint at Red Bull was heralded as a major coup for McLaren in 2023, with the engineer promoted to the role of chief designer shortly after he started work with the team at the start of last year.

Marshall’s exit has since been followed by the likes of Adrian Newey, who is due to start work with Aston Martin in March after joining Red Bull in 2006.

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Long-serving sporting director Jonathan Wheatley is also poised to leave Red Bull, having been appointed to the role of Audi F1 team principal last year.

Wheatley is expected to begin his new position with the existing Sauber team in April.

McLaren have also added Red Bull strategy chief Will Courtenay to their ranks, appointing him to the role of sporting director.

However, Courtenay is not expected to link up with McLaren until F1 2026 amid reports that Red Bull have no interest in negotiating an early release, meaning he is likely to spend the entire F1 2025 campaign competing against McLaren.

Marshall has revealed that the offer to join McLaren came at a time life was “a bit too comfortable” and “too easy” at Red Bull.

And he is relieved to have parted ways with Red Bull in the “right” manner, with Max Verstappen’s latest title triumph in F1 2024 proving the Milton Keynes outfit “can manage” without him.

He told GPBlog: “From a personal point of view, [McLaren] 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.’

“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, 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: ‘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 fun part.”

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Andrea Stella, the McLaren team principal, recently paid tribute to Marshall’s impact on his new employers, admitting the former Red Bull man had exceeded expectations.

He told Motorsport.com: “Rob came with a wealth of experience, knowledge from a technical point of view, with a reputation from this point of view.

“I have to say that, working with him, myself, the other technical directors, the entire technical team, if anything we have been impressed even more than what we expected.

“Because of these qualities, like the knowledge of how you design a car, especially from a car layout point of view.

“This is very important for 2025 and this will be very important for 2026.

“I said it was really a good idea to get Rob, because he’s doing all the work in terms of layout for ’25, ’26 and we did miss this kind of role at McLaren before.

“In addition to that, Rob brings fantastic human qualities, a very positive person. Everyone enjoys working with him. He’s full of energy.

“You can see him in the garage and very often he’s just laying under the car on the ground.

“Everyone appreciates his incredible knowledge and experience.

“But at the same time, his hands, and sometimes even his head are dirty because he was with his hands on the parts.

“That’s something that we did miss before and we are glad that now we have it in the role.”

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