McLaren has announced it has signed Red Bull Racing’s Chief Engineering Officer to head its Engineering and Design Department.

Rob Marshall will join the Woking operation at the start of 2024, ending a 17-year spell with Red Bull.

Marshall is the latest signing following a restructuring of McLaren’s technical department after Andrea Stella took control of the team in December.

He will work alongside Peter Prodromous and David Sanchez, reporting directly to the team principal.

“I am incredibly pleased that Rob will be joining McLaren,” Stella said.

“With over 25 years working in motorsport, Rob comes to us with a wealth of expertise and experience, elevated by his tenure and track record at Red Bull Racing.

“Rob’s appointment is one of the fundamental steps and a natural fit to aid the team’s journey to get back to our winning ways.”

Following his promotion to team principal, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown charged Stella with evaluating the team’s technical capabilities.

That resulted in James Key departing the squad, with a three-pronged approach adopted in his place.

That sees Prodromous heading up the aerodynamics team while David Sanchez, who will join from Ferrari at the start of 2024, is in charge of car concept and performance.

Neil Hudley is currently charged with engineering and design pending Marshall’s arrival, with whom he will work as a deputy.

“We are a team with the ambition of fighting for championships, but over the last couple of seasons we have not shown a steady upward trend from an on-track competitiveness point of view,” Stella added.

“Over the last few months, we have worked towards inverting this trend.

“The approach we have adopted is comprehensive and is based on strengthening the team from a people and expertise point of view, along with the ongoing projects to upgrade technology and infrastructure that will shortly come to fruition.

“People and culture are our most important resource.

“We have recently invested and worked towards developing and empowering the internal talents available at McLaren, and we already perceive and measure the positive impact.

“In parallel, we have been strengthening our roster by bringing new talents on board.

“The list was already strong and encouraging, and the addition of a high-end and skilled individual like Rob will further consolidate our ability to establish the highest technical standards at McLaren and be in condition to design winning F1 cars.”