David Sanchez described it as “the role we had envisioned and agreed upon did not match the reality of the position I found.”
Team principal Andrea Stella said this was “a further step in the evolution of the structure of the technical department”. McLaren called this “a constant quest to establish the highest technical standards.”
No matter how you look at it, it's hard to see how anything other than bad blood could have caused this early and shocking departure.
In March 2023, McLaren took over the role of technical director James Key and opted for the bold decision to split it into three parts, a method Alpine has adopted ever since.
Key resigned due to the underwhelming MCL60 at launch, and a deal that attracted a lot of attention was confirmed.
Rob Marshall, who played a key role in Red Bull's success, was one of them, but another great was David Sanchez, Ferrari's chief engineer for vehicle concepts.
The hiring of a French engineer was a total coup. At the time, McLaren were one of the worst teams on the grid, while Ferrari appeared to be on an upward trajectory under the new leadership of Fred Vasseur.
A few months earlier, Andreas Seidl had left to join Sauber, which meant Stella would be promoted to an unfilled role. They also had unknown newcomer Oscar Piastri in one of their cars.
So, no matter how much Stella and Zac Brown sold him the dream, making this move was quite a leap for Sanchez.
It was a sacrifice for the 44-year-old as well. His F1 career was by no means certain, and in order to move from Ferrari to McLaren, Sanchez had to take nine months of gardening leave.
That's what makes his departure all the more surprising. While early retirement is not uncommon, three months later is an incredibly short period of time and suggests that there were unsolvable problems behind MTC's strong exterior.
In his role, Sanchez is one of the team's executives who is only concerned with moving up the standings and has assembled arguably one of the best technical teams on the grid.
The nature of F1 car design and construction also means that we are unlikely to see any contribution from Sanchez so far this season. How would he feel if a part or upgrade he designed turned out to be a game changer?
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Sanchez undoubtedly considered this possibility and still chose to walk away. Nor has he been poached, as the press release makes it clear that his next opportunity is not yet available.
For McLaren, this is a rare slip-up from a team that seemed to have been doing everything right for the past 10 months.
Their aggressive move towards a three-pronged approach would not have factored in such a sudden resignation, and if they were hoping to offload another rival's staff; It will also serve as a long gardening vacation.
Meanwhile, Stella has had to juggle her roles as team principal and head of technical performance, and while she is undoubtedly well-suited to the skills role, as the season progresses she finds herself taking on too much work. You may notice that
This kind of incident is rarely broadcast in public, much less right after, and we'll probably have to wait a few years to find out what really happened, but read between the lines. I have no choice but to draw a conclusion. The relationship between Sanchez and McLaren was hopeless.
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