Capito departure from McLaren F1 confirmed

Jost Capito has officially left his role as chief executive officer of McLaren Racing after just five months in the job.

The former Volkswagen motorsport director was announced as joining McLaren a year ago, with the move planned to take place as soon as VW had confirmed his successor. As a result, Capito only made his first appearance at a race at the end of August – at the Belgian Grand Prix – before officially starting in his new role on September 1.

Despite being new to the team and attending a number of races toward the end of the season, it was reported as early as December that Capito's position was under threat following the departure of Ron Dennis and arrival of Zak Brown. Dennis had been behind Capito's arrival but was himself ousted as McLaren chairman and chief executive in November.

McLaren has now confirmed the 58-year-old has left his role just five months into the job as part of an ongoing restructuring at the team.

"Jost Capito joined McLaren after four successful years at VW Motorsport, with a strong commitment to bringing success back to McLaren," a McLaren team spokesman said.

"He wanted to build again a winning team and fully focus on making the McLaren Formula 1 car competitive, with the aim of winning World Championships in coming years.

"Regrettably, we have not been able to find common ground with Jost with regard to what is and will be needed to make the team successful again.

"As a result, we have agreed that he will leave McLaren Racing and will now consider other opportunities. We wish him success in his future endeavours."