15/12/2022
NEWS STORY
It has been revealed that Andreas Seidl was always intending to leave McLaren and return to the Volkswagen family.
The German was one of the key players in Tuesday's extraordinary game of musical chairs, events at a rival team meaning that his departure from McLaren was brought forward.
With Audi entering F1 in 2026, Seidl had notified the Woking team that he would not be extending his contract which was due to end in 2025.
However, when Mattia Binotto left Ferrari and the Maranello outfit called on the services of Frederic Vasseur, the way was left open for Seidl to make his return to the Volkswagen family early.
"Andreas in a very transparent manner informed me during the season that he was going to go elsewhere when his contract was up at the end of 2025," Zak Brown told the media in a video conference.
"It's probably pretty clear where that destination would be, which was quite understandable given his background," he added, referring to the fact that Seidl had run Porsche's WEC programme that won the championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours three times between 2015 and 2017.
While both parties were happy for Seidl to continue until 2025, Vasseur's departure to Ferrari expedited things.
"In the fast-pace of the Formula 1 environment, when it became clear that Fred was going to go to Ferrari, Finn Rausing, someone that I've known for a decade and get along with very well, gave me a call to see if there was a discussion to be had to potentially release Andreas early," said Brown, referring to Sauber's chairman.
"My reaction was if Andrea (Stella) would be happy to join as team principal, then I'd be very happy to make that change now which I think puts everyone in their permanent homes for the foreseeable future."
All the players in yesterday's 'game' take up their new roles almost immediately, Brown making clear that he saw no point in playing the 'gardening leave card'.
"I think, as we've demonstrated at McLaren, there are ways to dissolve a relationship, whether that's with racing drivers, or employees, where you can do things on very workable terms for everyone."