McLaren’s restructuring process was going according to plan up until yesterday morning when they had announced James Key has the new technical director, plying him away from Toro Rosso, where he held a similar position.
The announcement was all over the Internet and that didn’t go down well with Toro Rosso, as Franz Tost released a statement saying that James still had a long term contract with the team.
“James Key has a long term valid contract with the team. The contents of the contract are confidential, therefore we won’t comment on any of the details.” Franz Tost said.
The sudden McLaren announcement hasn’t gone down well with Red Bull, as Marko reveals that negotiations were still going on between Red Bull and McLaren.
Zak Brown had asked Red Bull and Toro Rosso about a potential move for Key, but nothing had really been finalised.
“We have a multi-year contract with James Key. Zak Brown has asked us if we would release him from this contract earlier. We were still negotiating when we suddenly read in the press that McLaren has signed James Key” Helmut Marko said.
Marko has blasted McLaren for this little gimmick and has warned them that it will now take McLaren a very long time to get their hands on Key.
Mr. Key will have to wait a long time before he can work for McLaren” Marko declared.
Marko went onto say that McLaren have been repeat offenders in such contract negotiation talks.
“It was the same with Lando Norris. We negotiate with McLaren behind closed doors and suddenly find out from the newspaper that they do not want to give it away.” Marko concluded.
This seems like to be a battle that won’t be coming to an end soon.
