Formula 1 Belgian GP
How "great innovator" Rob Marshall is impacting McLaren’s success
In the latest James Allen on F1 podcast, former Aston Martin technical chief Dan Fallows highlights the contributions Rob Marshall made to winning projects at Red Bull Racing and McLaren
Jake Boxall-Legge
Edited: Jul 23, 2025, 4:00 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Rob Marshall, Chief Designer, McLaren F1 Team, Zak Brown, CEO, McLaren Racing
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
McLaren had been on the rise over the second half of Formula 1's 2023 season, but the addition of Rob Marshall to its technical management structure in January 2024 is generally considered to have been a key contributor to helping the team continue its progress.
Marshall, who was recruited from Red Bull following its wealth of success across 2022 and 2023, had a hand in the in-season development of 2024's MCL38 before taking more of a role in the concept of this year's MCL39, which has become the runaway leader in both championships.
The Briton's approach has been lauded by former Aston Martin technical chief Dan Fallows, who worked with Marshall at Red Bull prior to joining the Silverstone outfit.
Speaking on the James Allen on F1 podcast, Fallows underlined Marshall's strengths and suggested that his ability to work as a go-between to ensure the vehicle dynamics and aerodynamics departments were on the same page was a likely factor in McLaren's success.
He added that McLaren's approach to the suspension design on its MCL39, which features wishbone leg placements consistent with a pursuit of anti-dive properties, was likely influenced by Marshall's oversight.
"We called him Uncle Rob – he's a lovely chap," Fallows explained. "I think that is probably part of his impact in many ways. He's a good person to pull people together. He's got no artifice or doesn't play politics.
"Sometimes – particularly with this regulation set, where it's very important to be able to link up aerodynamics and the vehicle dynamics side of things – it's very important to get the suspension working with the aero in the right way. He's somebody who can help bridge the gap between departments.
Marshall pictured alongside Red Bull Racing royalty at the RB5 launch in 2009
Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images
"I don't know how well they were working before, but he's certainly somebody who can do that. But also he's a great innovator. So if they have particular problems, particularly on the mechanical side, he's somebody who's very good at coming up with creative solutions for that.
"I think we've seen some interesting innovations from them on the suspension, for example. And I'm not saying it was necessarily him, but it's certainly got his name all over it.
"I think he's able to do that and also able just to be that kind of figurehead, somebody to go and talk to. It's very useful in a team that particularly is under a lot of stress. I think he probably has had an impact."
Explaining where he thought McLaren had excelled, Fallows noted that the team's approach to development has been consistent with an overall plan for updates; rather than chase immediate gains, McLaren has opted for a prudent approach to producing and track-testing updates in practice sessions before fully integrating them on the car.
This has been noticeable over the past two seasons; for example, McLaren registered a new front wing at the Canadian GP weekend, but used it only in practice to gather data before electing to put it on the car in Austria.
"Since they made a leap in performance in 2023, what I think has been impressive is that some of their updates have not been visually very striking, but they've clearly had a plan," Fallows elaborated.
"They've stuck to it and they've decided on a philosophy on how to improve the car and they've just sort of gradually nibbled away at it, and just got quicker and quicker. I mean, I know from personal experience and as people do across the grid, these regulations are very tricky to make reliable performance, to put something on the car and to just know that it'll work. But they seem to be able to do that.
"And I think that's probably been the most impressive thing. The fact that they're a customer now is probably less relevant. I know, the Mercedes power unit is very good, but I think most of the power units are at this stage of the regulations fairly consistently good as well.
"They make their own gearboxes. They do enough of the car to be able to make a difference. And I think that's just what they've done. They've just consistently managed to put those upgrades on the car. They reliably work and they've just kept their head above everybody else."
The half-season discussion featuring Fallows and ex-Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley on the James Allen on F1 podcast is available to listen to at the link below.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Why new Red Bull F1 team boss Laurent Mekies is “up there with the best”
Next article Toto Wolff: George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli are Mercedes' "absolute priority" in F1
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jake Boxall-Legge
FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned
Latest news
Marc Marquez puts his chances of retiring within three years at 70%
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
2 min
Marc Marquez puts his chances of retiring within three years at 70%
Audi hands F3 runner-up Freddie Slater F1 practice debut
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
38 min
Audi hands F3 runner-up Freddie Slater F1 practice debut
On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Brazilian GP
2 h
On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1
Raul Fernandez still compromised after Indonesia finger injury: “I’m not at 100%”
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
2 h
Raul Fernandez still compromised after Indonesia finger injury: “I’m not at 100%”
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe