Volkwagen's involvement in an emissions cheating scandal played no role in Jost Capito's decision to leave the German carmaker for McLaren. The British F1 team recently announced that Capito, who has been VW's motorsport director since '12, will replace Jonathan Neale as the its CEO. While no specific date has been set for Capito's move to McLaren, he told SBD Global that the emissions scandal had no effect on his decision. "[The move] has nothing to do with the situation that Volkswagen is in because it developed well before the scandal," he said. "This kind of job assignment does not get done within a couple of weeks. It has been in the works since summer." VW is expected to get hit with billions in fines for installing software in its diesel cars that reduced emissions during official inspections. Despite the bleak outlook for the company, Capito, who led VW to three consecutive World Rally Championship titles in '13, '14 and '15, does not believe the scandal will impact the company's WRC commitment. "We don't see any writing on the wall that Volkswagen's WRC involvement would not continue," he said. VW has already developed its rally car for the '17 season, which will see the introduction of new regulations. Capito's focus will remain on VW's rally program until a suitable successor has been found. The new WRC season kicked off this past weekend in Monte Carlo with VW taking first and second place. Capito stated that the search for his replacement has not started yet and that he will stay on until everything has been sorted out.
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Jost Capito
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A NEW CHALLENGE: His move to McLaren will bring on a slew of new challenges for Capito. The team is coming off one of its worst F1 seasons in its illustrious 40-year history in the sport, finishing second to last in the constructor standing. McLaren also lost several sponsors this offseason including Johnnie Walker and Tag Heuer and has not had a title sponsor since Vodafone’s departure at the end of ’13. Capito declined to comment on specific issues facing his new employer, but he’s aware of the task ahead. “It’s one of the biggest challenges you can have in motorsports right now, to bring McLaren back to the top where I believe they belong,” he said. McLaren's underwhelming ’15 season had a lot to do with Honda’s underperforming power unit. The Japanese brand returned to F1 last season after a seven-year hiatus from the sport. Despite Honda’s struggles, Capito will not bring Porsche or Audi, which are both part of the Volkswagen Group, with him to F1. “No, I think with the situation that Volkswagen is in, there are no talks about Formula 1 right now,” he said. “I think they have bigger fish to fry.”
