Just five months after joining McLaren as it's CEO, Jost Capito has officially left the team, it has been announced.
Capito, brought in by former McLaren boss Ron Dennis to run the team, only joined the Woking squad in September 2016, after leaving his position as Head of Volkswagen motorsport.
For the latter half of the 2016 season, Capito worked alongside Eric Boullier and Jonathan Neale as the team continue their fight back to the front of the grid. However, behind the scenes, Dennis was forced out in a "bloodbath", and Capito, seen by many as a Dennis signing, position became increasingly unclear.
The exit from Woking was nearly all but confirmed when Zak Brown was signed as the executive director of McLaren. The new management structure in place, meant that there was no space for Capito, whose future plans remain unclear.
In a statement, McLaren said: "Jost Capito joined McLaren after four successful years at VW Motorsport, with a strong commitment to bringing success back to McLaren.
"He wanted to build a winning team, with the aim of winning the Formula One World Championship in coming years.
"Regrettably, we have been unable to find common ground with Jost, and wish him well in his future endeavours."
Continued de-Ronification
McLaren have also announced that their 2017 challenger will be known by a new chassis desingation, the MCL32. This means that the team have dropped the famous MP4 designation, given to all chassis since Dennis took over the team in 1981.
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Moreover, in a move that is exciting fans of F1, the team appear to be leaning toward returning to their famous Papaya orange livery for the new season. The car, due to be unveiled on the 24th of February, three days before pre-season testing, will be driven by Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne in what will be the third year of the McLaren-Honda partnership.