Martin Whitmarsh is returning to Formula 1 with Aston Martin in much the same role he had at McLaren as CEO, but the day-to-day running of Lawrence Stroll’s team will remain in the hands of Otmar Szafnauer.
One of Ron Dennis’ big decisions in the final days of his demise as he led the team he built was to oust Whitmarsh at the end of the 2013 season, after which he disappeared from the F1 radar and rarely spoke publicly about the sport or his former team.
Until November 2017 he was CEO of the America’s Cup Challenge from Olympic Ben Ainslie, then he took on an advisory role. A month later he was commissioned by the FIA to advise on cost cutting in motorsport.
Whitmarsh is also part of the Hamilton Commission, founded by his former driver (now seven-time F1 world champion) Lewis Hamilton, and sits on the Advisory Board of Formula E.
Last month, billionaire Stroll announced that Whitmarsh had been hired as the CEO he now holds at Aston Martin Performance Technologies.
In an interview with Motorsport.com, team boss Szafnauer explained how team management will work in the future: “The F1 team will remain under my leadership and responsibility. So I will continue to be the team principal and CEO. Martin will be Group CEO with the F1 side reporting on him.
“I think the only thing that is not planned is how much of his time, because he has the whole group, is spending on each of these sessions.
“I could imagine that at the beginning he will spend most of the time building up the Aston Martin Performance Technologies division, where he is gaining his latest experience, and not focusing so much on Formula 1. But what is not planned is how much time he will spend where. “
Sazfanuer sees Whitmarsh’s extensive experience in Formula 1 – which also includes the presidency of the (now defunct) Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) – as a big plus for building a strong team with big ambitions.
“He was with McLaren when they started, so he has that experience and can take us short cuts.
“He also has seven years of boat racing experience now, including starting a new company that will take technology from boat racing and use that technology in cargo ships, I think.
“And it’s an applied technology business, technology transfer. He has good experience in this and will help us to shorten the development of our performance technology business, ”added Szafnauer.
The American joined Honda when the Japanese manufacturer returned to the top flight in 2001 and stayed on the F1 team until 2008.
Szafnauer joined the Force India team in 2009, where he stayed during the transition from Vijay Mallya’s operation to Stroll’s Racing Point company, which has since transformed into the Aston Martin Dream Team currently being built at Silverstone
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