McLaren has announced that Andreas Seidl will start in his position of managing director of the Formula 1 team on May 1.

Seidl has been recruited from Porsche as part of ongoing management changes at McLaren, with his appointment confirmed in early January but only named as starting during 2019. On Tuesday, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown announced the German will be in position from the start of the European season.

“We’re delighted that Andreas is able to join the team on 1 May,” Brown said. “This enables us to continue the momentum of our recovery plan and we’re looking forward to welcoming him to McLaren.”

Seidl will start work the week after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the fourth round of the F1 season.

At present there is still no confirmed start date for James Key, who McLaren announced it would sign as technical director from Toro Rosso back in July of last year. At the end of the season, Brown stated that Key would join at some stage in 2019.