Marketing boss Ekrem Sami exits McLaren after 35 years

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McLaren's long-serving Marketing Chief Executive Officer Ekrem Sami has announced that he's leaving after 35 years with the team.

It's the latest in a series of senior management changes at Woking, which have included the departure of Ron Dennis from the company and the exit of team manager Dave Redding who has moved to Williams. The team's executive manager Jost Capito has also headed for the exit after just four months with the team.

Now it's the turn of Ekrem Sami to give up his parking pass at the McLaren Technology Centre.

“I don’t mind admitting that it feels a bit strange to be announcing that I’m moving on from McLaren, the company to which I’ve devoted almost all my professional life. But now is the right time," he said on Thursday.

"I’ll continue to work on the projects with which I’m already engaged, and I expect to formalise my departure some time in late March.

“Over the past 35 years I’ve worked with some truly brilliant people, and I want to say thank you to them all.

"I’m looking forward to broadening my professional outlook into the wider sports and entertainment sector, after being so immersed in the weird and wonderful world of Formula One.

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McLaren executive director Zak Brown gave his thanks to Sami for all his hard work and contribution to the team.

"Whatever Ekrem chooses to do with the rest of his professional life, I’ll always regard him as a McLaren man through and through," Brown said. "His commitment and work ethic remain absolutely second to none, and I feel privileged to have worked with him for so long

"His commitment to the McLaren cause has never wavered, and you’d have to look very hard to find a man who works harder than he does.

"He and I will definitely stay in touch, but I’ll miss being his colleague. We all will. But we wish him well."

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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.