System 1 | How to explain the departure of Sanchez from McLaren F1?

A quick tour and then he left: David Sanchez only stayed for three months in McLaren F1. The team explained this surprising decision as follows: Sanchez (no doubt embarrassed by the weight gained by Rob Marshall, the technical director of the team?) could not find the place he was waiting for in the organizational chart.

Bad recruitment, bad assignment, can be explained these days in F1: the technical structures are getting more complicated, the so-called garden holidays are getting longer, reduced budgets are preventing salary progression…

How can we avoid making mistakes when hiring an engineer, especially from F1?

The first management challenge for James Vowles, the boss of Williams F1: time off from the garden holiday.

“First of all, a year is a long time in our game, but that’s the time you generally have to wait for the best talent to arrive. We are in the same situation. We have hired a lot of people, but it will be a while before it comes to fruition. So we must keep moving forward. We must continue to develop the organization around this. »

“I don’t know the specific case of McLaren, but it may be that they had to improve the organization, because basically we are in a very close race between all of us. And this evolution made the position (of Sanchez) change into something different. The main thing is to create an adequate structure so that when good recruits come, they can integrate into the organization without that role disappearing, which I hope is what we are creating for the future at Williams F1. »

“That’s why I keep saying that 2024 and 2025 are not the most important years. What is important is to create long-term stability and build a foundation from there. And for this, it is important to create roles and structures that we know will be correct in two years, and not today. »

Ayao Komatsu also suffered from Haas F1, that of Simone Resta, technical director.

Like Williams F1, Haas F1 is trying to develop but the changes are not happening at the desired speed.

“Yes, it is a real challenge. For example, when I took office on January 10, I had to ask myself, along with the restructuring, how many management positions we can fill internally. And if the answer was, say, only 50%, I had to repeat this calibration. But when I thought about it, I realized that we can fill 90% of these positions through local advertising or by rehiring. So you have to understand the strengths of each person, and even the character, how everyone works together within the organization. So it’s a big challenge, but luckily I always believed we had good people. Well, we don’t have many people, but we have good people. At least, to relaunch the organization, I was able to do it 90% internally. »

“But yes, at some point we will have to start hiring senior engineers from outside. It’s not easy, but I think every organization is very different. You have to study your own case and find your own solution. »

Replacing senior engineers – or hiring them – is a big challenge

At Alpine, it’s not the streak of departures that Bruno Famin has to manage, but the bleeding.

Alpine has chosen to replace this departure (Harman, Fry, Permane…) with local advertising as well: because the garden holiday is too long?

“The organization is a very powerful thing. It’s not frozen anymore. I think we have to adapt the organization to what we want to do and the processes, that’s for sure. The tools and the technology keep changing. And depending on who we can hire or not, depending on what weaknesses you want to work on, you can develop the organization. »

“And yes, it’s like cars today. It’s very powerful. It’s a never-ending process, really, of hiring people, fixing the organization, and I think we’re all on the right track. »

Toto Wolff also has a problem with human resources, and not just the drivers. The departure of Loïc Serra, to Ferrari, will also give him a new puzzle to solve.

How does the Mercedes F1 boss handle these HR situations?

“The organization is a dynamic structure that can change a lot from one year to another and obviously there is a human part that plays a role. And I think you have to be flexible. You have to be able to change your decision or go back to other decisions if you feel that it is no longer right. Without knowing the details of this matter, I am not surprised. In the normal industry, this happens all the time. »