Formula 1 | Upheaval at McLaren: Boullier announces his resignation with immediate effect

With a press release issued a few minutes ago, McLaren confirmed the resignation with immediate effect of Eric Boullier, sporting director of the Woking team for the last four seasons.

A real bolt from the blue given that the Frenchman, who arrived from Lotus at the end of the 2014 season, has always been one of the cornerstones of the project carried out by Zack Brown. His resignation will be effective as early as the next United Kingdom Grand Prix and his place will be taken by Gil de Ferran, a consultant who joined the English team in recent weeks. It should be noted that on this occasion, Brown announced a series of changes to the team's technical structure.

From this week, in fact, Simon Roberts will supervise production, engineering and logistics, while Andrea Stella will be appointed executive director and head of operations.

Here are the words of Zack Brown, CEO of McLaren Racin: “The performance of the MCL33 did not meet anyone's expectations at McLaren. I want to underline that the fault does not lie with the hundreds of men and women who work within the Woking centre. The causes are systemic and structural. Precisely for this reason we have made some structural changes within the team."

“With today's announcement we begin to address these issues and aim to take the first step towards rebirth. I want to thank Eric (Boullier.ndr) for the enormous work done over the last four years. I wish him all the best for his future.", he added.

Here is Eric Boullier's greeting: “I am very proud to have worked with such a brilliant team, but I recognize that the time has come to step down. I want to wish McLaren all the best for the rest of the season and for the future."