A different sport, but the same mix of technology, engineering, athleticism and talent. These are the parallels that Sir Ben Ainslie and MacLaren's former team boss Martin Whitmarsh see between Formula 1 racing and the America's Cup. The two have been in good contact for a long time. Now Whitmarsh has come on board as the new Chief Executive Officer and wants to help the British Cup team Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) bring the silverware back to their home country in 2017.
In his new role, Whitmarsh reports solely to Team Principal Ben Ainslie and to the Board of Directors, on which he himself has a seat. Ainslie was enthusiastic about the prominent new appointment: "When we made the initial plans for BAR, MacLaren was one of the role models. It is therefore more than fitting that we have now appointed one of the architects of this model as our new CEO. Martin has been highly recommended to us by many authorities in the motorsport industry and has long maintained good relationships with our key partners. In particular, this includes Adrian Newey, the head of Red Bull Advanced Technologies." Whitmarsh and Newey worked together at MacLaren for nine years between 1997 and 2006.
Whitmarsh studied engineering in Portsmouth, where the team will soon move into its new headquarters. Commenting on his new role, the bright mind himself said: "After 25 years at MacLaren, it's great that I can now bring my energy and experience to such an exciting sport and technical challenge. MacLaren has become a very diverse organisation. I hope I can use my experience to help BAR develop a sustainable business model for the future. There is also the clear goal of winning the America's Cup. We want to bring the Cup back to British waters." Whitmarsh will start work for Team BAR in April.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
