Racecar Engineering

Living the dream

‘I want to measure myself and my team against the best in the sport’

The news came in November 2018 that Andreas Seidl, the man who had led Porsche to its three most recent Le Mans victories, had abruptly left the company, handing in his keys, laptop and fob at the Weissach office. But for what other role was he walking away from the offered post of head of motorsport at Porsche for? It surely had to be something special.

Indeed, that was the case. Seidl was, he said, off to his dream job. This turned out to be heading up McLaren’s Formula 1 operation as its team principal, with carte blanche to implement the changes he felt were necessary, with the full support of the McLaren board.

When he arrived, the team had been in the doldrums for a few years. It had blamed the Honda

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