New McLaren boss Seidl at the helm for the first time in Spain

McLaren's new F1 boss Andreas Seidl, who started his tenure with the Woking-based outfit on May 1, will take his post on the team's pitwall for the very first time this weekend in Spain.

Seidel, the man who masterminded Porsche's LMP1 efforts in the WEC, was recruited by McLaren at the start of the year but was under a gardening leave restriction until the end of April.

The German, who previously worked in F1 for BMW and Sauber, visited McLaren in Bahrain back in March and has since brought himself up to speed with the team's developments.

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"I’m delighted to have now started at McLaren and I’ve had a really warm welcome from everyone in the team," Seidl said.

"During my first few days I’ve been speaking to as many people around the factory as possible and this will continue over coming weeks as I get to know the team.

"In Spain we’ll look to build on the performance shown in the first few races, however we know the field is extremely tightly-packed.

"The start of the European season is traditionally where teams bring upgrades, so it’s hard to say where the grid will line up this weekend, but we will continue to focus on developing our package and improve the car in key areas.

"As always, the objective during the weekend will be on ensuring strategy, operations and reliability are as strong as they can be."

In Barcelona, Seidl will rely on McLaren sporting director Gil de Ferran to help him uphold the team's positive start to its 2019 campaign.

After four races, McLaren currently sits at the head of F1's midfield, but de Ferran warns that the array of updates introduced by the teams in Spain could revamp the pecking order.

"In Barcelona there's potential for a big reshuffle, because a lot of people bring different things, and we don't control that," said the Brazilian.

"We only control what we can do.

"I think on the positive side I think we understand the strengths and weaknesses of our current car, and we're very focussed on saying we need to improve the weaknesses that we've identified.

"Where we're going to be in Barcelona and from then on, I've no idea. It's just heads down, and step-by-step."

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