McLaren in legal battle with Mercedes over staff

McLaren has started legal proceedings against Mercedes, claiming that the reigning Constructors’ champions persuaded top F1 engineer Loic Serra to break the binding contract he would have signed with the British team, according to Motorsport.com.

After showing promising signs of recovery this year in the wake of a dismal 2015 campaign, McLaren has been looking to add more staff in a bid to further bridge the gap to the front.

Jonathan Noble reports that one of the high-profile engineers the Woking-based outfit wants to recruit is Serra, who has been serving as Mercedes head of vehicle dynamics since 2013.

McLaren even thought Serra had a binding contract to join the team only to find out that he would not leave his current position. The report adds that Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff confirmed that Serra would stay in Brackley before quoting a McLaren spokesman who said that “the matter is subject to legal proceedings and we do not wish to comment until that process is complete.”

A graduate from the École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers (ENSAM) in Paris, Serra spent 10 years at Michelin as a tyre vehicle interaction engineer before joining Sauber-BMW as head of vehicle performance in 2006.

He remained at Hinwill until 2010 when he joined Mercedes in the capacity of chief engineer of vehicle engineering, and was promoted to his current role three years later.

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