Alunni Bravi joins McLaren

Ex-Sauber managing director and team representative, Alessandro Alunni Bravi, joins McLaren in their newly created chief business affairs officer role. As we mentioned on this week’s podcast, Alunni Bravi announced he was leaving Sauber/Audi after a long stint with the team.

“McLaren is a team I have been a huge fan of my whole life, and it therefore sparks special emotions personally to have the opportunity to now work with such an amazing group of people,” said Alunni Bravi, who worked at Sauber from 2017 until the start of this year.

“I’m so grateful to be joining such a great organization with the values and culture that are so clear to see from the outside.

“I want to reward the trust and confidence that Zak and the board have put in me by giving my full dedication and effort to help contribute to the continued success, as I believe teamwork is key to everything.

“I am so happy to be joining a team that I truly believe sets the benchmark in F1 both on and off the track, and I can’t wait to get started at the beginning of February.”

McLaren Press release:

McLaren Racing is pleased to announce that Alessandro Alunni Bravi will be joining McLaren Racing as its new Chief Business Affairs Officer, reporting directly to Zak Brown, and sitting as part of the McLaren Racing Executive Team. He will take up his post from 1 February 2025. 

This is a newly created position that will see Alessandro provide executive leadership across a range of McLaren Racing business matters including legal, driver development, driver contract management and rights holders/governing body management. Alessandro will take over leadership of our Driver Development programme which will be transitioning across from Stephanie Carlin, who, among others, has done a tremendous job elevating this programme over the last 12 months and will now be taking on additional responsibilities within F1, continuing to report into Andrea Stella.

Alessandro brings over two decades of experience across various disciplines in motorsport and business leadership, most recently, as Managing Director of the Sauber Group and Team Representative for the Stake F1 Team, where he played an integral role in corporate decision-making, group development, and strategic planning. Alessandro has also held leadership roles with ART Grand Prix, SPARK Racing Technology, and Trident Racing, among others.

After two years with McLaren Racing, the team can also confirm that Steve Atkins, Chief Communications Officer will be leaving the team at the end of February for personal reasons.