The newly-created Aston Martin Performance Technologies entity will have former McLaren boss as Group CEO, role in which he will have a wider brief than just the racing side of the team. But Szafnauer says that his role as team principal will not change.

"The F1 side will remain under my leadership and remit," he said. "So I'll still be team principal and CEO. Martin will be group CEO, with the F1 side reporting through him.

"So I guess the only thing that hasn't been planned is how much of his time, because he's got the entire group, does he spend on each one of those entities?

"I would imagine at the beginning most of his time will be spent growing the Aston Martin Performance Technologies area, which is where his most recent expertise lies, and not focus so much on F1. But the bit that hasn't been planned is how much of his time will be spent where."

He added that Whitmarsh will bring valuable knowledge about usage of technologies outside of the sport to the team from his experience at McLaren and with BAR.

"He was there at McLaren when they started doing that, so he's got that experience, and he can lead us to shortcuts in doing that.

"He's also had seven years now of boat racing experience, including starting a new company that is taking technologies from boat racing and moving that technology into I think cargo ships.