Posted on 22nd October 2014
This morning it has been announced that McLaren Sporting Director Sam Michael will leave the team at the end of the season after resigning earlier in the year.
A McLaren spokesman formally confirmed that Michael, who joined McLaren from Williams in 2011, handed in his notice to the team in March with the 43-year-old and his family to fulfil an ambition of returning to his native Australia after 20 years in F1.
Michael's F1 career began with Lotus in 1993, before he joined Jordan and eventually moved on to Williams, where in 2004 he succeeded Patrick Head as the Grove outfit's Technical Director.
After quitting Williams mid-way through the 2011 campaign, Michael started work at McLaren in the November of that year with his role of Sporting Director seeing him responsible for race and test operations and driver programmes. He will attend this season’s remaining grands prix with McLaren before departing.
Michael’s exit is likely to trigger a wider reshuffle at the Woking team, as its racing director Eric Boullier takes the next steps in his efforts to get McLaren back into winning shape.
My first thoughts on hearing the departure of Michael's this morning was that even though he did his best for McLaren in the three years he has been with the team, has enjoyed some success with the team during his three years there and has now decided he wants a fresh and new challenge and feels that he is better returning to Australia to fulfil it with his family at the end of the season.
But even though things may not have gone according to plan for Michael, he has a brilliant career in Formula One with Lotus, Williams and McLaren and has shown that he is a talented and professional who has impacted greatly on the teams he has served during his time in the sport. And that is something he can take away with him and be proud of when he leaves the team at the end of the season.
With the news of Michael's departure at the end of the season, McLaren have categorically dismissed speculation that two more senior figures at the team who are Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Neale and Technical Director Tim Goss are also leaving.
Neale also holds the role of Acting CEO following changes to the management structure at the team at the start of the year following Ron Dennis’s return to the helm of the F1 operation.
Even though speculation has been denied by the McLaren team, I wouldn't be surprised to see further change within the team under the new structure that is being implemented currently to regain the team back to the front of the grid once more. But in regards to Michael leaving the team, I am sure like many pundits, fans and the McLaren team wish him luck in his future in Australia and will be as successful as he has been in Formula One in the last twenty one years in his new challenge ahead.
Sarah Jones reports for Driving for Pleasure
