Why Prodromou gives McLaren the edge over unstable F1 rivals

One word uttered by McLaren Formula 1 team principal Andrea Stella nearly two years ago matters when considering his team’s announcement of a contract extension for its aerodynamics chief, Peter Prodromou.

“We wanted to unleash a very strong resource that we had internally, and that, for some reasons was under-utilised,” Stella said back at the 2023 Australian Grand Prix.

This was just after McLaren had massively reorganised its technical department and removed previous technical director James Key.

In his next sentence, Stella specifically referenced Prodromou – who he used his classic thorough style to call “one of the most competent experts in F1 in relation to aerodynamics” – as being a key beneficiary of the then-major alteration to McLaren’s technical department.

“Unleash” might be one of the many buzzwords of a crowded era, but when it comes to McLaren and Prodromou, it keeps coming up.

In discussing how he’d seen Stella turn the results tide at McLaren since his elevation to his current job at 2023’s commencement, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown told this writer last year: “He really just restructured with the talent that we have, other than Rob Marshall [who was signed from Red Bull for 2024] and then of course, some other hires.

“But from a high-profile standpoint, it was unleashing Pete Prodromou, who had been not properly promoted, and letting him run aero.”

Peter Prodromou, Chief Engineer, McLaren

Photo by: Motorsport Images

McLaren announced on Tuesday that Prodromou would continue doing so with a fresh multi-year extension of his contract.

His previous one had him as one of three leading figures in the team’s horizontal technical structure – put in place in the post-Key era and reshuffled when current Alpine executive technical director David Sanchez left it after just three months last year.

Before it was implemented, Stella and Brown came to feel that ideas had been somewhat stifled and so the installation of the new structure followed what was revealed in Stella’s lengthy review into McLaren operations at the very start of his team principal tenure.

At the same time, Brown came to view Prodromou’s efforts in the team’s false-dawn revival of 2021 – when McLaren returned to winning ways for the first time in nine years after switching from Renault engine power to Mercedes – as being buried in the credit earned by then McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl and Key.

There has since been a notable shift in how McLaren views those sporadic successes earned with Daniel Ricciardo alongside Lando Norris, as it failed to kick on initially at the start of the current rules era.

Lando Norris, McLaren, 2nd position, pours Champagne as Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren, 1st position, prepares a shoey for Zak Brown, CEO, McLaren Racing, on the podium

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Brown would let Seidl walk to his short-lived time running Sauber/Audi and then signed off on Key’s axing and the overall technical department restructure.

After all, McLaren’s return to regular winning ways was achieved without the main fruits from its considerable investment in major design facilities – its new windtunnel and simulator that were signed off under Seidl – even really being felt in terms of new car parts.

Tuesday’s announcement must therefore be viewed within all that context – as well as how the efforts of McLaren’s current technical structure so successfully stepped up its results that it ended 2024 as constructors’ champion.

Motorsport.com understands that the fresh contract announcement is an extension of McLaren wanting to laud Prodromou’s work, rather than ward off any parties at other teams interested in his services.

The team he worked for in between his first McLaren stint starting in 1991 and his second, since 2014 when he left Red Bull, is, right now adapting to life without his former boss Adrian Newey, but here the announcement works handily two-fold under its central aim.

But there is also a further timing element to consider here, as McLaren heads into the 2025 season with the chance to clinch a first drivers’ world title since Lewis Hamilton in 2008 and a first championship double since 1998.

Motorsport.com understands the team is sticking with its mantra of prioritising the constructors’ prize as a first aim, rather than let any distractions arise for those charged with providing Norris and Oscar Piastri the car to achieve their own massive individual title aims this year.

Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team, 1st position, the McLaren team celebrate after securing the Constructors Championship title

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

They do so as the only stable drive line-up of the four frontrunning squads – with Hamilton settling into life at Ferrari, Liam Lawson now paired with Max Verstappen at Red Bull and Andrea Kimi Antonelli starting life in F1 as Hamilton’s replacement at Mercedes.

All of McLaren’s rivals also head into the new campaign with greater questions on their car performance potential considering how 2024 played out – although Ferrari at least can reflect that it might’ve beaten McLaren were it not for its mid-season results wobble, alongside how the Woking team was slower out of the gates versus its Maranello-based rival.

McLaren’s band is just fully together, with Prodromou getting its aero signing beautifully these days.

That added stability – even further reinforced with Tuesday’s news – could provide a critical edge in what will be a tough coming season for car development planning.

Indeed, it seemed as 2024 ended that teams were reaching something of a development ceiling with the current rules – hence the exciting results convergence – and they also all need to carefully balance a chase for additional performance of their new cars with not missing the key design boat of the rule changes coming for those being raced in 2026.

It was the reaction of Seidl and Key to how McLaren at first failed to nail the current rules that ultimately led to Prodromou’s unleashing, which highlights some danger on that front if McLaren were to fall back from the front next year.

But the recognition currently being shone out highlights how strong the bonds are at a famous F1 organisation that knows only too well how it feels to underwhelm when things go awry.