Read time: 16.1 minutes

On his first day in the McLaren factory, Rob Marshall walked around the car, inspected it briefly, and then reeled off a series of innovative marginal gains the team could make.  

The team bought into it instantly. It was a first insight into exactly why CEO Zak Brown and Team Principal Andrea Stella had been so keen to bring him on board.  

After being announced in May 2023, it was nearly nine months before Rob’s first day in the building. During that period, our new simulator and wind tunnel were switched on for the first time, the doors to our McLaren Racing Composites facility were opened, and the team in situ delivered our most competitive car in a decade.  

For Zak and Andrea, the final pieces of the puzzle were falling into place, which would allow McLaren’s restructured Technical Executive team to thrive. As part of this, Piers Thynne, Peter Prodromou, Neil Houldey, and Mark Temple were all promoted to new positions - between them, they have more than 81 years of experience at McLaren - while Rob was brought in to complete the team and add the extra firepower.  

They all worked on the development of our 2024 Constructors’ Championship-winning car during the season, but the recently unveiled MCL39 is the first McLaren Formula 1 car to have been entirely designed by our fully formed new Technical structure.  

As the MCL39 hit the track for pre-season testing in Bahrain, we sat down with Rob and Neil to discuss the team's performance and what fans could expect from the new car and beyond.  

How our Technical Executive Team works together  

For all of last year's success, the team was still learning each other’s ways of working. Their initial work on the MCL38 allowed them to figure out how best to configure the department, their workloads, and where one another’s strengths lie.  

It was decided that Rob would become Chief Designer, as he was more hands on with the design of the car - or the “nuts and bolts” as Rob calls it. Meanwhile, Neil Houldey, and Mark Temple were appointed as Technical Director, Engineering and Technical Director, Performance, respectively, with Piers as COO, as their skills lay in delivering performance and the infrastructure required.  

“We've all got very different strengths and different areas of interest, and it combines really well,” Neil explains. “If Rob isn’t covering something, I am. If I’m not covering something, he is. It works really well.” 

Having spent 17 years at Red Bull, Rob says it felt strange to be a new starter, but he had an impact from the second he stepped through the door. “If anything, we have been impressed even more than we expected,” Andrea said recently.  

Asked about Andrea’s comments, Neil says: “Rob has come in with no ego and enjoyed just getting involved and working with people. And people have enjoyed using Rob's experience, knowledge and skills, to grow themselves. Technically and as a group of teammates, we've all gained from Rob coming into the team.” 

Since joining McLaren in 2006, Neil has worked within several different structures, but many of those he’s worked with on the shop floor remain. The Technical leadership team was overhauled, but the people implementing their vision largely hasn’t.  

New recruits, such as Rob, have and will always be key, but the core of the team remains the same.  

“McLaren have always had good people,” Neil says. “I've enjoyed working here the entire time I've been here. We've gone through some highs - last year, for example - and some disappointments, but there’s such an energy in the team now, a real want to get more done, everyone is much more focused on adding performance to the car under Andrea than we have been at any point that I can remember. He’s pushed a performance-driven culture and the fact we’re here to work together, and that’s what has really been the difference.  

“Of course, bringing extra horsepower in, so to call it, has really benefitted us. I think we needed that supplementation. We needed Peter in his new role because that powered up the whole Aero team, we needed Rob to come in to give us that little nudge on what it was actually like to be an F1-winning team, and it needed Andrea to really push the empowerment message.

“But, fundamentally, everyone and everything was here. A few - what looked like quite minor - changes have transformed the team.” 

The language used on a day-to-day basis can also be transformational. Using the right wording can be hugely undervalued, but is key to setting the right mindset. The shift from ‘Can we do this?’ or ‘Is this worth doing?’ to ‘Lets do this’ is huge.   

Rob explains: “It’s important to have an open-minded approach to everything because cars are always different. They evolve, and your understanding of what you need to do to make the car go quicker changes. Most ideas aren't new, they're a kind of regurgitation of a previous one.  

“The approach is that everyone looks to overturn every stone and see what's underneath it. Some have nothing, and some have performance - there's no resting on laurels anymore.”

Looking to the future  

Having found a structure that suited them, the team were desperate to get stuck into our 2025 F1 car, but they couldn’t start without first considering the impending regulations overhaul in 2026, which would require considerable resource.  

With the team having to effectively work on two cars concurrently, they’d need to cut their cloth accordingly, in order to simultaneously build this year’s MCL39 and begin work on our 2026 car under the new regulations. “To have an opinion, you've got to do a reasonable amount of work,” Rob says of the impending rule changes. 

“We've used design resource to get things done this year that we know we're going to do anyway, so really, we'll be on the second iteration when we move into the 2026 rules. I think we've used the people around us effectively to get the most out of the MCL39 and to get necessary work done upfront on the 2026 car.” 

Given the extent to which the 2026 regulations will change, there isn’t much to be carried over, but it would be impractical not to investigate the possibilities that do exist.  

“We’re not carrying over much towards the 2026 car, but it enabled us to do some work that we think will be beneficial in the future,” Rob continues.  

Squeezing out every drop of performance  

That brings us onto the car fans saw around Silverstone for the first time a month ago. One of F1’s common misconceptions is that at the end of a regulations cycle, the gains to be made are few and far between, but this is rarely, if ever, the case – especially with the current ground-effect cars.  

“I think that's wrong,” Rob agrees. “Last year, we saw how the pecking order varied monthly. Each month, it looked like a different team was the strongest. Everyone had their time at the top, but on average it turned out we were at the top the most. 

“It all ebbed and flowed, but it was quite clear that there's performance to be had and performance to be lost by doing right and wrong things. So, there's no reason why that won't carry on into this year. It was very competitive at the end.” 

What can fans expect from McLaren’s 2025 Formula 1 car?  

“The most interesting bit is buried away, so no one will ever see it,” Rob says with a smile. Though tongue in cheek, his response is far from unusual in F1. Not every invention is as visible as 2010’s F-Duct or 1997’s brake steer, many are hidden well beneath the bodywork.  

Although the team needed to get a head start on the 2026 car, the focus remains heavily weighted towards this season, given the chances that exist in the Championship.  

“The priority is to create car that can compete to win the World Championship again this year,” Rob reaffirms.  

Neil says: “I'd say there's not a lot that hasn't changed. Everyone has taken on the challenge of knowing that 2026 is coming up, but also knowing that this is another opportunity to be competitive within a Championship. If you look at the car, there will be things that are identical, but we've been able to save weight, we've been able to add stiffness, we've been able to add aero performance - the whole team's got stuck in and made sure that those gains have been made.” 

Rob adds: “We've identified a few areas we want to focus on for this year. Not massive gains, but worth having. On the front of the car, we've gone a step more aggressive, for example. The majority of the work and research has gone into specific areas. Wings, floors and bodywork are all things that continuously evolve through the season.  

“I'd say, on the whole car, there's areas of innovation. Throughout, it's a step improvement over the last car, and that's what you are always trying to do. You want to package that little bit tighter and that little bit neater, aerodynamically, so it's that little bit better and I think everyone in the team has a right to be incredibly proud of what they've achieved. We'll then see how it goes on the track.” 

Although there might not be too many major gains left in the current regulations cycle, there are lots of smaller, one per cent gains, which the team have focused on.  

“When you are fighting for a World Championship, that's a natural drag on the resource for the design the following year, as you are keeping your foot on the development up until the last race,” Rob says.  

“For that reason, we had to decide what battles we wanted to fight for this car. So, there are some things we didn't change very much, but everything's changed a bit. Some areas are not too aggressive, but others are quite different.” 

Neil adds: “I think there are areas of the car that really showcase the approach that we have been taking over the last, let's say, 18 months… the collaboration, the bravery...” 

The willingness to take risks? We ask.  

“Yeah, willingness to take risks, but which make engineering sense,” he adds. 

What are we expecting from the upcoming F1 season? 

The aim is to start more strongly than in 2023 and 2024.  

Our trajectory in 2023 was one of rapid development. We infamously started at the back of the field and ended it towards the front following a series of significant upgrades. In 2024, we built on this, beginning the season by confirming we could be part of the leading group of cars, and ending it with the potential to be regular race winners.  

The goal this season is to start the year with a car capable of winning races and maintain that consistency throughout, while being aware that the current F1 context is very competitive. 

Rob says: “We believe that the car is better than what we finished last year with. We think we've made a reasonable step. Is it big enough? It's probably big enough to make us think we are in the fight. Do we think it's better than any other ones? No. I suspect it's the sort of gain the other teams we were fighting at the front with have made. Hopefully, they haven't made one that's much bigger.  

“It will continue to evolve during the year. I don't think anyone's going to give up on development this year. We all saw how the lead changed so much last year, so why would it be any different this year? Even if you're sat forth and 40 points off the lead at the summer shutdown, you are still in striking distance.” 

Neil adds: “We've gone through a lot of testing - testing on the simulator and testing on the track now, and the car has run reliably. We’ve picked up minor issues, which is the intention, and we move forwards confident we've done everything we can. We'll keep a constant eye on performance and reliability to keep up the record we had last year.”