McLaren boss remains confident despite veteran Andreas Seidl's departure: "I think we've got a strong race team"

McLaren boss Zak Brown has shown confidence in his team despite losing veteran team principal Andreas Seidl to Sauber. He believes several "opportunities" have revealed themselves within the racing team since Seidl's departure.

After Seidl resigned from his post as McLaren's team principal back in December, Brown decided to promote Andrea Stella from his Racing Director role that he had held since 2019. The American executive believes this move highlights the "depth" within his team and shows their overall strength.

Speaking to the media, Brown said:

"[McLaren] is a big team with a tremendous amount of talent. Any team or business for that matter is about the collection of individuals and the ways of working, so Andreas did a great job. But I have no doubt Andrea will pick up and carry us forward. We need to add some resources within certain areas in the racing team, but I think we've got a strong race team."

He added:

"We've done a lot of promotion from within and the response I've had from the team about Andrea's employment has been predictably well-received. This feels like we won't miss a beat versus introducing someone from the outside because it takes quite a while to get up to speed. If we didn't have Andrea, then maybe that would have been an alternative to look at, but it was very clear to all of us very quickly that Andrea was who we want to run the team."

McLaren finished P5 in the 2022 season of Formula 1 after a heated battle for P4 with Alpine. The team has added rookie Oscar Piastri to their lineup to replace the outgoing Daniel Ricciardo for the 2023 season, as they hope to climb up the table further next year. With a new principal and a new driver, it is surely going to be an interesting season for the team.

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McLaren announces 2023 car launch date

McLaren has confirmed February 13th as the date they launch their 2023 challenger. Four other teams have announced launch dates for their 2023 cars so far, viz. AlphaTauri, Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Alpine.

The Woking-based team will be looking for some significant improvements from its challenger in 2023 after a surprising 2022 season. Last season, the team not only lost their P4 position to Alpine but managed to secure only one podium all season.

The young team of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will have a big task at hand in the upcoming season, one that requires a lot of effort. With the way the 2023 season has been shaping up, they must put in extra effort if they want to achieve more.