Horner claims "significant offer" swayed Marshall's exit to McLaren

McLaren made a “significant offer” to lure Rob Marshall away from Red Bull, according to F1 team principal Christian Horner.

Lewis Larkam

13 Jun 2023

Ahead of the recent Spanish Grand Prix, McLaren announced they had bolstered their technical department with the hiring of Red Bull’s chief engineering officer Marshall, who will join the team at the start of 2024.

Marshall’s signing is seen as a major coup for McLaren, who have also poached David Sanchez from Ferrari amid a major restructure at the British squad.

“Rob has been with us for 17 years and he’s been an instrumental player in the building of Red Bull Racing,” Horner is quoted by RaceFans.

“He was able to accommodate things mechanically within the car, like batteries inside the gearbox with the KERS cars back in the 2009, 10, 11, 12, 13 era.

“He played a significant role within the team but over recent years he’s moved onto other projects and hasn’t been on the mainstream of Formula 1.

“After 17 years he had an offer, a significant offer, from McLaren. Whilst he still had a period of time left on his contract, he was keen to go back into Formula 1, and so we came to an agreement with him.”

(L to R): Christian Horner (GBR) Red Bull Racing Team Principal with Rob Marshall (GBR) Red Bull Racing Chief Engineering — (L to R): Christian Horner (GBR) Red Bull Racing Team Principal with Rob…

Horner insisted there was no animosity surrounding Marshall’s departure from Milton Keynes.

“We did a little thing for him at the last debrief,” Horner said.

“Usually when somebody leaves the team we tell them to fuck off, with Rob it’s a little bit different. He’s a good guy and he’s just going on to a new challenge.

“But it’s a little bit like Manchester United if you look at their team how it evolved over a period of time, Eric Cantona wasn’t still playing 17 years later.”

McLaren have denied suggestions of a “link” between Marshall’s signing and a potential Red Bull-Ford engine deal for 2026.

"I can confirm there is no link,” McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said in Barcelona.

"We had conversations with Red Bull a few months ago as part of the due diligence in exploring what's available in the market in terms of power unit for 2026.

"But at the moment, we are quite advanced in our negotiations with HPP, so there's no conversation ongoing with Red Bull."