McLaren CEO Zak Brown has explained the unusual decision as to why departing team principal Andreas Seidl has not been placed on gardening leave. It was announced on 13 December that Seidl would be departing the Woking squad after four seasons to take the helm as CEO of the Sauber Group following Frederic Vasseur's move to Ferrari. Seidl previously worked for Porsche before McLaren, steering them to Le Mans success, and with fellow Volkswagen brand Audi set to enter F1 in a partnership with Sauber in 2026, Brown was open to letting the German go. However, when high profile team personnel move to a rival squad, a period of gardening leave is often taken to ensure the team member cannot take current and future information with them to their new team, with a period of six months being the norm. In Seidl's case, this was deemed not necessary by Brown.
Brown on Seidl decision
"As far as gardening leave, [Andreas and I] have a great relationship," Brown began when asked by media, including RacingNews365.com , as to why Seidl will not take a period of leave. "I know a lot of teams play the gardening leave card, but I think as we've demonstrated at McLaren, there are ways to dissolve relationships. "Whether that's with racing drivers, or employees, you can do things on very workable terms for everyone."
No change for McLaren
In Seidl's place, McLaren have promoted Andrea Stella to the Team Principal role, with Brown keen to emphasise it will be business as usual at Woking. "I don't think there'll be a tremendous amount of change," he explained. "I'll certainly lean in more where Andrea would like my support. Obviously in the TP role, there's the sporting and commercial sides and the media, and we will find good ways of working together. "We've not gone from three to two people, we've gone from 850 people to 849 people and it's quite a large organisation with a tremendous amount of talent in the team. "There are opportunities for everyone to step up, so I am very comfortable."
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