McLaren's Sam Michael has confirmed the widely expected news that former Technical Director Paddy Lowe will move to rivals Mercedes in 2014. After 20 years as a member of the Woking-based squad, Lowe is due to join the Silver Arrows from the start of next year and will see out the 2013 Formula 1 campaign on gardening leave.
"I think first of all, Paddy has been with the team for almost 20 years and is a fantastic guy and a great asset to McLaren, but he has taken his choice to move to Mercedes and we wish him all the best," Michael told Sky Sports on Friday, with McLaren not revealing the identity of Lowe's new team when his exit was announced.
Reiterating Jenson Button's comments earlier in the week, Michael eased concerns that Lowe's exit could signal the start of a struggle at McLaren. In response to the situation, Tim Goss has been promoted to the role of Technical Director.
"We have looked at things internally and restructured and now Tim Goss is Technical Director and he is the one that has been responsible for a lot of the technical design and development of the previous McLarens over the last two years and then four years ago and six years ago - so Tim is extremely experienced," Michael added. "One of the great things about McLaren is that strength in depth is something we have a lot of."
Lowe will be joining a reinvigorated Mercedes outfit, which is now overseen by former Williams Executive Director Toto Wolff. The 50-year-old's switch casts an element of doubt over Team Principal Ross Brawn's position, who recently stated: "With a lot of additions I want to see how things go before I make a long-term commitment."
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