Jonathan Neale is a British businessman and director of McLaren Group. Neale's role came to general public awareness, when he was personally fined 150,000 Euros for his involvement in the 2007 Formula One espionage controversy, which centred around the theft of 780 pages of confidential Ferrari documents. Neale remains employed by McLaren in the group operation, alongside Zak Brown.
Beginning at Philips Defence Systems, he became a chartered electrical and electronic engineer and went on to lead the advanced development group within the electronic warfare division. He moved to British Aerospace in 1991, working as a project design engineer leading major systems projects for commercial aircraft. Promoted through the company, he became director of operations and support operations at the Manchester and Prestwick Sites and was responsible for aircraft production, customer support and training. He returned to defence systems and aircraft, taking charge of the Hawk Fast Jet Programme as managing director 1999. He gained his MBA during the 1990s and participated in the government cabinet office's prestigious Top Management Programme working with public and private sector colleagues.
McLaren
Neale joined McLaren Racing as operations directorin 2001 to oversee the race team's operations and engineering processes. He was appointed the company's managing director in 2004. Neale is currently a fellow of the Institute of Directors and occupies a principal role within the organisation, managing overall technical and operational strategy for the whole team.
Ferrari espionage case
Neale was a key player in the 2007 Formula One espionage controversy, which involved the theft of 780 pages of confidential Ferrari documents. At the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix, the public prosecutor of Modena, Giuseppe Tibis, issued a legal notification of investigation that named certain individuals that were under investigation in a criminal procedure, citing three points: possession of industrial secrets, sporting fraud and sabotage. On pleading a no contest agreement, Neale was personally fined 150,000 Euros in exchange for the legal proceedings to be dropped in Italy. Neale was one of 3 McLaren people to be personally fined, notably former Engineering Director Paddy Lowe was another.
