Brown: Problems won't be fixed overnight

In the eye of the storm for several weeks due to disappointing results, the Frenchman has decided to leave his post as competition director ahead of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Boullier had arrived at McLaren from Lotus at the start of 2014 with the mission of bringing the historic team back on the path to success after a 2013 campaign without any podium.

In four and a half seasons, the Mayennais will have only tasted the joys of the Top 3 once, during his first Grand Prix at the head of the competition department in Australia 2014 thanks to the 2nd and 3rd places of Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button.

After three difficult campaigns with the Honda engine, the switch to propeller Renault should allow the return to the forefront this season but the MCL33 shine more by the shimmering orange color of their livery than by their performance on the track, even if Fernando Alonso and his grinta manage to maintain the illusion through stubborn races.

« We are all under pressure and it is deserved because our performance level is below the objectives and does not do justice to our staff, nor our resources, nor our history, said Zak Brown in an interview with Sky Sports. Eric has been at McLaren for 5 years, he has brought a lot to the team, he loves McLaren and felt that the best way for the team to move forward was to resign. We saw each other last night, we discussed it and I accepted his decision. I wish him the best. He's a racer, I expect to quickly find him in a winning role ».

McLaren, which seems to be in almost permanent restructuring in recent seasons, is once again in the process of making structural changes. Gil de Ferran and Andrea Stella, two close associates of Alonso, are thus promoted to the respective ranks of sporting director and head of performance, while operations director Simon Roberts will also take care of production, engineering and logistics. .

« We are at the very beginning of the process, added Brown. We must be a faster, more flexible organization that communicates better because I am convinced that we have great talents in our team but the mayonnaise is not working as it should. We have been in a bad situation and destabilized on an organizational level for 7-8 years now, so our problems are not new and we are not going to solve them overnight.

If we look back, we realize that in 2010 Mercedes was co-owner, then there was a change of main team (Martin Whitmarsh, ousted at the end of 2013), a shareholder who left (Ron Dennis, early 2017), so it's difficult to move forward in these conditions. We now have good foundations to build for the future and no longer constantly change.

The reason the car is not competitive on track is that we are not performing well as a team. I see that we are not responsive enough. I think we need to simplify things and act like a racing team. We are too sluggish, not fluid enough. Our methods must change, my job is to ensure that the 800 members of our team are pulling in the same direction as quickly as possible. We have a problem with the car but it comes from the way we build it ».

While McLaren is bogged down in a desert crossing almost unprecedented in its history on the Grand Prix scene, Brown has appeared on all fronts in recent months, making contacts in IndyCar here, hinting at a return to Le Mans there. The American wants to refute the idea that he is chasing several hares at once.

« La F1 is certainly our priority, it always has been and it remains the number 1 objective, insisted Brown. Gil will focus his efforts on F1 (the Brazilian is a double CART champion and winner of the Indianapolis 500, it was he who notably supported Alonso during his first visit to Indy last year, Editor's note). The other avenues that we have explored or are exploring are not the priority. I've always loved Gil's racing instinct and I'm sure he will bring new perspectives.

We will not give up, it is not the practice of the house and the shareholders fully support us. They invest where they need to invest. But there will still be difficult weekends and I'm not expecting a miracle at Silverstone ».