Whitmarsh’s arrival at Aston Martin will not affect Szafnauer’s role

Aston Martin Team Principal and CEO Otmar Szafnauer insists that Martin Whitmarsh’s arrival at the company will not affect his role.

Last month, Aston Martin announced the hiring of former McLaren man Martin Whitmarsh to the newly created position of Group Chief Executive Officer of Aston Martin Performance Technologies, the also newly formed company that “will encompass the brand’s Formula 1 operations also “aims to develop and promote and commercialize the group’s technical capabilities and intellectual property with the aim of providing industry-leading innovation, engineering, testing and manufacturing services in a variety of key industries”.

Whitmarsh left McLaren in late 2014 after 25 years in a number of senior positions including Group Chief Executive Officer and Formula 1 Team Principal.

During his tenure, Whitmarsh and Ron Dennis had diversified their business beyond Formula One, introducing McLaren Automotive and McLaren Applied Technologies.

He has been involved in Ben Ainslie’s Americas Cup project since 2014 and as Chairman of BAR Technologies, not to mention his role on the global advisory board of Formula E and the Hamilton Commission. In late 2017, the FIA ​​announced that Whitmarsh had been invited to act as an advisor to finally introduce a budget cap for Formula 1.

After his recruitment by Aston Martin, some wondered if Otmar Szafnauer’s days could be numbered. However, the former BAR and Honda man insists that Whitmarsh’s role encompasses the entire Aston Martin company and therefore won’t detract from his role.

“The F1 team will remain under my leadership and my mandate,” he said, according to Motorsport.com. “So I will continue to be the team principal and CEO.

“Martin is going to be Group CEO,” he added, “with the F1 side reporting on him. I think the only thing not planned is how much of his time – since he has the whole group – he spends on me.” I could imagine that at the beginning he will spend most of the time developing the Aston Martin Performance Technologies area, in which he has his latest knowledge, and not focus so much on Formula 1. It is not planned how much time he will spend where.

“He was with McLaren when they started, so he has that experience and can take us short cuts,” he said. “He’s now also had seven years of boat racing experience, including starting a new company that will take technology from boat racing and, I believe, bring that technology to cargo ships.

“It’s an applied technology, technology transfer business. He has good experience in it and will help us accelerate the development of our performance technology business.”