Jost Capito to start work at McLaren in late August

A couple more months will pass until McLaren's new chief executive will start work at the Woking team. We reported a month ago that Jost Capito, currently VW's racing chief, would probably start work in late August, despite being signed up by McLaren in January.

The German had said he would not leave VW until a successor is appointed. "I don't know when exactly he will officially take up his duties," McLaren team boss Eric Boullier had said in Monaco. But now 57-year-old Capito has announced at an FIA conference in Turin that he will kick off his McLaren duties "shortly after Rally Germany".

Rallye Deutschland concludes on 21 August, a week before the Belgian grand prix at Spa. "It will be the end of August, beginning of September. Around this time," Capito confirmed. "I look forward to the change, otherwise I would not have done it."

Capito has had a senior F1 position before, at Sauber in the 90s, as he explained: "In the paddock I see many familiar faces, just older! "But I do not see any major changes. Of course, the cars and technology have changed, but it is still formula one."

Capito said it is "sad" to see his former employer, Sauber, struggling financially for survival. "It would be sad if formula one would lose them, but unfortunately it is a part of the sport," he said. (GMM)