Formula One: McLaren lure Peter Prodromou from Red Bull

SUZUKA, JAPAN (Reuters) - McLaren have succeeded in luring top aerodynamicist Peter Prodromou away from Formula One world champions Red Bull, team principal Martin Whitmarsh said on Saturday.

The move will be seen as a coup for the former champions, who have more arrivals in the pipeline as they build up to a partnership with Honda in 2015.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner indicated McLaren could expect a long wait before Prodromou, head of aerodynamics in Adrian Newey's design team, would be free to return to his former employers at Woking.

He said: "We've enjoyed a long relationship with Peter and he's a valuable member of the team and there's quite a duration left on his contract. We won't force him to stay, if it's his choice to leave, then he'll leave at the end of his contract. But we are quite some way off that."

London-born Prodromou was McLaren's head of aerodynamics until 2006, having joined in 1991, when he followed Newey to Red Bull. Together, they have produced the cars that have won the last three drivers' and constructors' titles.

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