Just hours after McLaren officially confirmed that current Toro Rosso technical director James Key would lead its engineering department in 2019, the Faenza-based squad appears to be contesting the announcement.
Oddly, McLaren did not issue a press release announcing Key's appointment, which means that details related to the timing of the British engineer's arrival at Woking remain unknown.
The team did however communicate the news on social media. But Toro Rosso's Franz responded this afternoon with a somewhat confusing message of its own on Twitter.
"James Key has a long term valid contract with the team. The contents of the contract are confidential, therefore we won’t comment on any of the details."
There is speculation that Red Bull likely won't let Key depart without Toro Rosso negotiating a form of compensation as his contract has yet to run its term, whether it be hard cash or perhaps by enjoying the benefit of bringing McLaren junior Lando Norris into the bull pen, as Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko attempted to do recently.
There's currently a lull in Red Bull's young driver programme, forcing Marko to seek young talent out of the energy drink's stable.
Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
Lewis Hamilton has been warned that he will need to adjust to the way Ferrari…
In this scene immortalized by Bernard Cahier, a jumping-jack Luca di Montezemolo flanked by the…
McLaren CEO Zac Brown is happy that his team is well out of the unsettling…
Haas F1 team principal Ayao Komatsu has confirmed that the final choice on who gets…
Sauber driver Valtteri Bottas has insisted that he still has options for extending his F1…
With the recent announcement of a new contract at Aston Martin meaning that Fernando Alonso…