Following the winter departure of team principal Andreas Seidl, who is now CEO of Sauber, his replacement Andrea Stella led a full review of the operation in conjunction with boss Zak Brown.
This resulted in an overhaul of the technical department, with director James Key jettisoned in favour of a new three-pronged leadership structure featuring Ferrari head of vehicle concept David Sanchez.
Two-time Champ Car champion de Ferran, who worked with Stella at the team between 2018 and 2020, has now returned to McLaren as an advisor as part of the next phase of the reorganisation.
Asked by Motorsport.com to explain de Ferran’s role, Stella said: “Gil is essentially a consultant, so non-operational, non-executive and that’s a role as a consultant to myself and to Piers [Thynne, the newly …