Sainz sees Key as a crucial asset for McLaren

Carlos Sainz is confident that James Key will play a crucial role in McLaren's ongoing recovery.

The team has had a stronger start to the season than many were expecting, although Sainz himself has failed to finish either of his first two outings with his new team following his switch from Renault over the winter.

But Sainz is far from downhearted, and has welcomed the arrival of Key as technical director at McLaren after months of 'gardening leave' following his signing from Toro Rosso.

McLaren prepping for mid-field shift of balance in China

“It is a great asset to the team him coming here,” Sainz said this week. “I have a relationship with James from our Toro Rosso days, so it is nice to see an old friend in a new environment."

Key is credited for helping make Toro Rosso into one of the leading mid-field contenders in recent seasons before his departure. Sainz expects him to work the same magic again at McLaren.

“He is going to have a quick impact on next year’s car," said the Spanish driver. "This year is all about the procedures, how the team works and learning about this year’s car.

"This learning process will help him and give him a good baseline for next year," Sainz added. "He is a great asset to the team."

McLaren CEO Zak Brown is confident that all the pieces are finally coming together.

“It’s very early days,” he said. "He’s just in observation mode at the moment, getting to know the team.

“We’ve made quite a few changes, starting in the middle of last year, and so it’s great to have him on board."

Ex-Porsche LMP1 boss Andreas Seidl is another new addition to the senior team management line-up at Woking.

"We have Andreas Seidl who will be joining us in a month to run the Formula 1 team," Brown confirmed. "Once he’s joined then we’ll be pretty complete on the racing team.

"Then we just need to put our heads down and try to go faster!"

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.