Jan.28 (GMM) For the first time since Adrian Newey left five years ago, McLaren has appointed a new technical director.

When Newey - who penned the championship winning car at Red Bull last season - left McLaren, the British team said there was no urgency to replace him.

"The structure we have in place does not require that someone directly takes his position," said Ron Dennis in 2006.

"We do not see the necessity for a technical director."

Now, even though McLaren's press department insisted the news is not a "radical change", the team said Paddy Lowe has been promoted from engineering director to his new role of technical director.

Woking based McLaren said Lowe will do the same job as before but with "even greater levels of focus" including "new and innovative technical projects".

The move means that the 2010 car's chief engineer Tim Goss, who joined McLaren in 1998, becomes director of engineering.

"I used to be jointly responsible for the direction of our cars with Pat Fry," said Goss, referring to Fry who has moved to Ferrari.

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