Brown: Red Bull upset they're losing a great talent like James Key

Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko insists that Key has a contract with the energy drinks organisation until 2020

But Marko pointed out that the Woking outfit broke protocol by not negotiating an exit deal for Key with Toro Rosso before announcing the appointment and is adamant that the Englishman will be forced to see out his contract to the end.

Brown nevertheless insists, "We have hired James Key, he will become our technical director. We do not have a start date. He does have a current agreement with Toro Rosso, of course, we respect contractual situations."

Speaking to reporters in Hungary, it is clear the McLaren chief is bullish about the 'new appointment' and even taunted Key's current paymasters, "Toro Rosso and Red Bull are understandably upset that they're losing a great talent like James Key. He's recognised as one of the best technical directors up and down the pitlane, so we're very excited to have him join us in due course."

Brown is adamant that a deal can be struck between the parties to break the impasse, "There's always in the world of F1 ways and opportunities to change situations. We have a plan. We obviously knew his current employment situation, and we're completely comfortable working around that situation."

"As we've stated before, we've done some restructuring, we're doing some hiring, we're not done yet, so we're just head down, operating according to the internal plan that we have."

"We're not done yet, both with bringing in talent, and our final structure. We have a good sense of what we're going to do, but that's not something that we want to make public," added Brown.

McLaren's newly appointed sporting director Gil de Ferran explained, "The key here is it's a team effort. There's a lot of talented guys that you probably don't know, up and down the organisation."

"We're reorganising and bringing the team together and making sure there is more clarity, there is more openness, there is more communication."

"I don't think we can share all the details of everything we're doing in-house to get to where we want to go, but there is a plan, and as we move forward it will become clearer to everyone," added de Ferran.

McLaren have two options: pay Red Bull compensation which is likely to be pretty vast if Marko has his way, or they could barter one of their two young drivers Lando Norris and Nyck de Vries.

But Marko is playing hardball on the driver front suggesting Red Bull could wait until October and nab Norris who will be out of contract at that point if McLaren don't promote him to a Formula 1 seat.

This one could get feisty so watch this space!