Former McLaren mechanic Marc Cox has shown that he has left the team after 17 years to sign up for Aston Martin’s Evolution programme as its new lead mechanic.
Cox, formerly number one mechanic for Lando Norris, left McLaren’s Formula 1 operation at the end of 2021 to become crew chief for their Extreme E team, but confirmed via social media he will be heading to Aston Martin as part of their evolution programme, running previous year’s cars at private tests and demo events.
Confirming the news of his departure from McLaren on social media, Cox wrote on X: “After 17 years with McLaren it’s time for my next chapter. It’s gone by so fast, I had a blast and met some amazing people along the way. I’ll miss you papaya family”.
Within that, however, his social media bio now contains that he will be chief mechanic at Aston Martin Evolution, with Cox ending a long association with McLaren in the process.
He departed the Formula 1 paddock in 2021 to tackle the all-electric Extreme E series as McLaren’s crew chief, and in a 2022 interview on McLaren’s website, he explained the differences between working in Formula 1 and the much smaller crew that came with the Extreme E series when it came to building and rebuilding a car.
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“It’s not like I’m used to, where if you want a component, you walk to some other component in the factory and get it. It’s about placing the order and then waiting for that component to arrive,” he explained, although he is still new to his role at Extreme E.
“There is a lot of paint work, the wiring harnesses and hard lines, in addition to the installation of the general furniture and fundamental parts of the car, this is one of the stages of maximum complexity. Afterwards, it’s like putting together a puzzle.
“A lot of effort put in by everyone. It’s such a small team and also such a new team. There are only 4 of us and we all had to go out of our competitions at times, but we all did and worked well together.
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