Rob Marshall is a British Formula 1 engineer and McLaren's Chief Technical Officer and Chief Designer. He joined the team in January 2024 and helped deliver its 2024 Constructors' Championship in his first season, with a successful defence in 2025. ¹²

He was born on 14 April 1968 in Taunton, Somerset, England, and studied mechanical engineering at Cardiff University. ¹

“Rob Marshall is a British Formula 1 engineer and McLaren's Chief Technical Officer and Chief Designer.”

Aerospace beginnings

Before motorsport, Marshall spent around nine years working in aerospace at Rolls-Royce. ²

Benetton and Renault

He entered Formula 1 with Benetton in 1994 as a design engineer and stayed with the Enstone team through its transition into Renault. He rose to Head of Mechanical Design and contributed to the team's championship-winning cars in 2005 and 2006, with Wikipedia crediting his innovative mass-damper system as a factor in the 2005 titles. ¹

Red Bull Racing

In 2006 Marshall joined the new Red Bull Racing as Chief Designer, working alongside design chief Adrian Newey. Over a 17-year tenure he helped design cars that won four consecutive Drivers' titles with Sebastian Vettel (2010-2013) and later three titles with Max Verstappen, and he was promoted to Chief Engineering Officer in 2016. ¹² He is regarded as a creative mechanical specialist: Christian Horner credited him with packaging KERS batteries inside the gearbox, and rivals have linked McLaren's clever suspension and flexible-wing solutions to his arrival. ³⁴

McLaren

Marshall's move was announced in May 2023 and, after a period of gardening leave, he joined McLaren in January 2024 as Technical Director, Engineering & Design. Within months a technical restructure made him Chief Designer, and he now holds the title of Chief Technical Officer and Chief Designer, sitting in Andrea Stella's flat, multi-director structure alongside the aerodynamics and engineering directors. ¹⁵ Stella has said McLaren had been "impressed even more than expected" by Marshall, praising his hands-on approach and car-layout expertise, while Verstappen pointed to his move as a factor in McLaren becoming the benchmark. ⁶⁴

Recent cars

Marshall contributed to the in-season development of the 2024 MCL38, then oversaw the 2025 MCL39 from its conception, a car praised for being fast everywhere that defended the Constructors' title and carried Norris to the drivers' crown. His team is now central to McLaren's 2026 new-regulations car, a project he has said touches "every last nut and bolt." ⁷

Bottom line

Marshall is one of F1's most experienced and inventive mechanical-design leaders, with a championship pedigree spanning Renault and Red Bull. His move to McLaren was a marquee technical signing, and he now anchors the engineering and design side of a team back at the front of the grid. ¹²