Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

New McLaren F1 CEO expects 'freedom'

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Incoming McLaren F1 CEO Jost Capito is confident he will have "freedom" to make changes to the structure within the team if required.

McLaren has endured a run of over three years without a victory and finished ninth in the constructors' championship last year after a difficult first season with Honda power. Racing director Eric Boullier felt the structure within the team needed addressing when he joined back in 2014 and Capito expects to have the ability to do the same if required once he arrives.

"I have the freedom to do what needs to be done," he told Autosport. "At the moment, it's quite a matrix."

And Capito believes his experience of working with Yamaha when he was at Sauber will stand him in good stead when it comes to dealing with the McLaren-Honda partnership.

"You have to make the relationships work. It has to be one team, no matter where the people work. It's always a challenge to bring a team together and it's a bit more difficult if you have part of the team in a different continent or if there is a different culture.

"But I have worked with the Japanese in the past so I have quite a good experience with that."

At present there is no start date for Capito, who will not leave Volkswagen until his successor is found.

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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.