The German’s first task when he joins later this year – McLaren are yet to agree severance terms with VW but hope he will arrive sooner rather than later – is to remedy the woeful performance of the team’s engine supplier, Honda. The 57-year-old proved appealing to McLaren and Dennis, who first approached Capito last summer, because of his experience with big manufacturers.
Dennis, the team’s under-fire boss after a woeful 2015 season, has wanted to hire a Chief Executive to work above Boullier for two years, originally hoping to persuade Ross Brawn, the architect behind Mercedes’ current dominance, to join McLaren. But Brawn has continually rebuffed Dennis’s advances and so he turned to Capito.
McLaren endured a season to forget
In an internal reshuffle, Jonathan Neale, who was acting CEO of the team for the last two years, has been moved to another job in the group after McLaren’s awful 2015 season. Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button did not record a single podium finish and the team ended the year ninth in the constructors’ championship. The team have also been bleeding sponsors and will face a shortfall of at least £20 million in prize money.
All eyes will be on McLaren when Formula One gathers for the first pre-season test in Barcelona to see it Honda have improved their wretchedly unreliable and underpowered engine. Many believe that if the car is still way off the pace, Alonso may walk out on the team there and then.
In Thursday night’s bulletin Dennis said: “I first approached Jost last summer. He is an extremely impressive, competitive and ambitious individual, who comes to us with a very wide range of automotive and motorsport experience, encompassing senior positions at BMW, Porsche, Ford, Sauber and, since 2012, Volkswagen, leading the latter company’s World Rally Championship team to consecutive world titles in 2013, 2014 and 2015.”