McLaren adds ex-Ferrari boss to its team following reshuffle
Former Ferrari Chairman Luca Montezemolo joins McLaren to spearhead growth under new owners
McLaren’s new owners, CYVN Holdings, continue to ring the changes with the appointment of Luca Cordero Di Montezemolo as a director of the recently created McLaren Group Holdings.
McLaren Group Holdings was formed in April 2025 after the Abu Dhabi Government acquired the company from the Bahrain sovereign wealth fund via its investment vehicle CYVN Holdings. The Group controls McLaren’s road car business, its multiple off-shoots such as licensing and, while it has no controlling stake in the Formula 1 team, this too sits within the Group.
The appointment of the former CEO of Ferrari will add to McLaren’s leadership team and provide near-unprecedented insight to the workings of the higher echelons of the super and hypercar world. While McLaren and Ferrari have been fierce rivals on the track in F1, on the road the Italian firm operates at an altogether higher level, with the British firm struggling with profitability and to make an indent into Ferrari’s dominance in the supercar market.
Montezemolo, who presided over Ferrari’s most dominant era in F1 from 2000 to 2004 and was Chairman of both Ferrari and Fiat, will join former Rolls Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös who joined McLaren in April.
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Since coming under the control of CYVN Holdings McLaren Automotive has gone through some significant management changes. Foreseven, the electric vehicle start-up that is also backed by CYVN and acquired the Gordon McLaren Technologies including the rights to Murray’s innovative iStream platform technology in 2023, has merged with McLaren Automotive. This has led to Forseven’s management team taking on key roles within McLaren Automotive, including its CEO Nick Collins replacing Michael Leiters, another former Ferrari exec.
With McLaren currently racing away with both the drivers' and constructors' title in Formula 1 (helped in no small way by Team Principal Andrea Stella, another former Ferrari employee), McLaren Automotive is now chasing down its Italian rival on the road too.
