F1: Paddy Lowe Committed To McLaren For This Year

Formula 1

F1: Paddy Lowe Committed To McLaren For This Year

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh says technical director Paddy Lowe remains on board – for now...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted January 31, 2013 Woking (UK)

McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe was notably absent from the new car unveiling. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh confirmed Thursday that technical director Paddy Lowe is committed to the team for at least a year – but admitted that the longer-term situation was unclear.

Last week, it emerged that Lowe had been talking to Mercedes about a possible future management role, leading to an awkward meeting with his bosses.

Lowe was a notable absentee from Thursday’s launch of the new McLaren MP4-28.

“The certainty is that Paddy will be part of the team for another year,” said Whitmarsh. “It’s less certain, I think as has been speculated in the media, beyond that. But it’s something I’m sure we will have some certainty on in the near future.”

Asked why Lowe was absent, Whitmarsh said: “Clearly there’s a lot of media interest, and I think it’s good that Paddy concentrates on doing his job. I don’t think he wants to create any embarrassment to the team or to any of his colleagues. It’s his own election; he felt it wasn’t appropriate to be here.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 28th season as a racing journalist in 2012. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.