McLaren recruits the head of aero at Red Bull
Not really up to speed in terms of performance this year, the McLaren team has decided to strengthen its technical team. The first member to join the Woking team is Peter Prodromou, the current chief aerodynamicist of the Red Bull Racing team.
The 2013 season for McLaren does not reflect the ambitions of the team from Woking, especially with Honda’s return alongside the team in 2015. Martin Whitmarsh recently promised at the Korean Grand Prix that there would be announcements that would make headlines in the specialized media. Here is the first one with the impending arrival of Peter Prodromou, the chief aerodynamicist from the Red Bull Racing team.
Prodromou, who worked for McLaren between 1991 and 2005, is the number 2 in the technical department of the Austrian team behind Adrian Newey, and it’s what one might call a major coup for the British team.
Whitmarsh confirmed to Reuters the future arrival of Prodromou: « He has signed a contract with us ». However, he did not wish to provide further details because, according to initial information, this transfer is not expected to take place next year but rather in 2015 – Prodromou’s contract with Red Bull ends at the end of 2014 according to several sources.
Christian Horner, the director of the Red Bull team, did not wish to discuss the matter further, even though he stated that Prodromou’s departure was not imminent.
« The conditions of any contract remain confidential between the company and the individual. We have had a long and very valuable relationship with Peter and he is an important member of the team with time still left on his contract. We will not force him to stay; if he chooses to leave, then he will do so at the end of his contract. But we are still quite far from that, » stated Horner as quoted by Reuters.
With the arrival of Prodromou, McLaren hopes to return to the top after a disappointing 2013 so far, with the best result being a 5th place secured in China by Jenson Button. This initial announcement could be the start of a long series aimed at strengthening the technical team of the team founded by Bruce McLaren.
