James Key (born 14 January 1972) is a British engineer who has worked inFormula One. He is currently the technical director ofStake F1 Team Kick Sauber.
Key joinedJordan Grand Prix in 1998 spending several years as a data engineer, then becamerace engineer forTakuma Sato. Following a year in the wind tunnel he transferred to the vehicle dynamics department, eventually becoming the department head during the team's final few seasons as Jordan Grand Prix.
Shortly after the team's ownership transferred toMF1 Racing, he became Technical Director during the2005 Formula One season following a brief period as Technical Co-ordinator. He was one of the youngest Technical Directors of a Formula One team, at the age of 33 years, along withSam Michael (born in 1971) who became the technical director of theWilliams F1 team at the age of 33 during the2004 season. Key retained his position during the team's transition throughSpyker F1 toForce India F1.
In April 2010 he left Force India to join theSauber team, replacingWilly Rampf as Technical Director.[4] He remained there for almost two years, before leaving in February 2012 to accept an undisclosed offer with one of the British-based teams.[5]
On 6 September 2012, it was announced that Key had joinedScuderia Toro Rosso as Technical Director, replacing Giorgio Ascanelli.[6]
On 26 July 2018,McLaren confirmed that Key had agreed to become technical director of the team, replacing the oustedTim Goss. On 22 February 2019, it was announced that Key would join McLaren from 25 March 2019, just after the Australian Grand Prix.[7] He formed a triumvirate withAndrea Stella as Racing Director and Piers Thynne as Production Director, all under Team PrincipalAndreas Seidl.[8] Key was sacked by McLaren on 23 March 2023 in an organisational change of the team's executive technical director role, replaced byDavid Sanchez following team dissatisfaction with the initial design and early season performance of their 2023 challenger - theMCL60.[9][10]
On 7 June 2023,Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake announced that Key would join the team on 1 September 2023.[11] He took on the role of Technical Director again, replacing the oustedJan Monchaux. He previously held the position of Technical Director under this team under its former name of Sauber in 2013, ahead of their re-branding as theAudi works team in 2026.[4] He once again worked underAndreas Seidl, CEO of Sauber Group, who had served as Team Principal during the pair's time at McLaren. Seidl was later replaced at Sauber Group byMattia Binotto.
