F1: Button gets new race engineer

Jenson Button will have a new Formula 1 race engineer for this weekend's German Grand Prix onward.

Tom Stallard is to step up to the role, replacing Button's long-serving Dave Robson, who is moving on to a different role at the F1 team. Robson has worked with Button since the former world champion joined McLaren in 2010, having originally been his performance engineer. The changes come as part of an ongoing restructure at McLaren as the outfit bids to return to the front of the grid.

"Tom is a very intelligent and able engineer, who has worked in a variety of engineering roles within McLaren, including as Jenson Button's performance engineer," said a McLaren spokesman. "Jenson's previous race engineer Dave Robson is a very experienced and expert engineer, who has achieved many successes working alongside Jenson in recent years, and whose experience and expertise will now be exploited in a broader role within McLaren's Formula 1 operation.

"This move is an example of McLaren's determination to optimise the deployment of its considerable engineering resource by developing the careers of all its engineers, on an ongoing basis, as part of our restructuring process."