Fernando Alonso has insisted that he was “informed, not consulted” about this week’s managerial restructuring at McLaren’s Formula 1 team.
McLaren confirmed on Wednesday that Eric Boullier had relinquished his role as Racing Director, with Gil de Ferran appointed to the newly-created position of Sporting Director.
Andrea Stella has been officially installed into the position of Performance Director, with COO Simon Roberts overseeing production, engineering and logistics.
The trio work beneath CEO Zak Brown, who joined the operation in 2016.
Stella previously worked as Alonso’s race engineer at Ferrari and jumped ship along with the Spaniard for 2015, while De Ferran acted as a coach to Alonso during his 2017 Indianapolis 500 effort.
When asked whether McLaren had consulted Alonso on their respective qualities, Alonso replied: “I was not consulted, I was informed, about the changes and the new possibilities. [Just] as Stoffel [Vandoorne] had been informed.
“I had more experience with Andrea than Zak, who only knows Andrea for one year long, so he wanted my opinion and how I see Gil and things like that.
“He knows Gil for 20 years and I know Gil for one year so he knows much more than me in terms of what possibilities and what scenarios Gil can come into play. So I fully trust whatever decision.
“Moving forward the most important thing is to improve the car and be more competitive and hopefully from this weekend we’ll see a step forward.”
Alonso added that “I just drive cars” and that “I trust 100 per cent Zak, we just drive cars”, when pressed further on the managerial changes.
Brown expanded, explaining that “it would be a mistake” had he not sought Alonso’s opinion on the various situations the Spaniard has encountered during his career, somewhat contradicting the 36-year-old’s prior viewpoint.
“I’ve spoken with all the drivers, Fernando obviously has an immense amount of experience, he’s driven for us twice, he’s driven for Ferrari, Renault, Benetton,” he said.
“I believe has a racer instinct. That’s important in a fast-paced, racing environment and he has been the at the centre of some great racing teams.
“I think it would be a mistake to not tap into his experience and knowledge and how he has seen different teams operate, so I’ve done that.
“I’ve done that with Stoffel as well but he obviously doesn’t have the same experience to draw on as he has only raced for us.”
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