McLaren expect Key to "influence" 2019 car despite late arrival

The CEO of McLaren's F1 team, Zak Brown, has revealed that new addition James Key will have influence over the 2019 McLaren car, the MCL34, when he joins the team later in the year.

Key is the technical director at Toro Rosso but was snapped up by McLaren earlier this year. He won't join the Woking-based team until later in 2019, but that doesn't mean he can't help the MCL34 progress and develop later in the year. He'll just have to hope the car is in good shape at that stage.

"[Regarding] James Key, we are in active discussions," Brown was quoted by RaceFans.

"I would characterise those discussions towards the end of coming to a positive conclusion for all parties.

"I anticipate that James will join us in sufficient time next year to help influence the progress of next year’s car and ultimately the development of 2020 so we will share that news as soon as we have news, but anticipate being able to share something early in the new year."

This means the impact from Key won't be felt until 2020, when the MCL35 will be completely designed with him watching over it. McLaren will hope he can inspire the team to start climbing the table again.