Whitmarsh came to motorsport from an engineering and aerospace background, having worked at British Aerospace (BAE) before moving into Formula One. He joined McLaren in 1989 as operations director, bringing industrial management skills to a sport that was undergoing rapid professionalisation.
Over the following two and a half decades, Whitmarsh advanced through every senior level of the McLaren organisation. He was promoted to managing director in 1997 and in April 2004 became chief operating officer of McLaren Group and chief executive officer of McLaren Racing. When Ron Dennis stepped down as head of McLaren Racing on 1 March 2009 to focus on McLaren Automotive, Whitmarsh became team principal. A year later he was appointed chief executive officer of McLaren Group and deputy chairman of McLaren Automotive.
As team principal from 2008 to 2014, Whitmarsh presided over a period that included the continued development of Lewis Hamilton and other championship-winning drivers. Under his broader leadership at McLaren, the organisation diversified significantly beyond Formula One: McLaren Automotive was launched as a road-car manufacturer and McLaren Applied Technologies was established as an engineering consultancy, both representing Whitmarsh's strategy of leveraging McLaren's technical expertise across multiple industries.
Whitmarsh left his positions as CEO of McLaren Racing and McLaren Group in January 2014, with his predecessor Ron Dennis returning to lead the organisation. He formally parted ways with McLaren in August 2014 after 25 years with the company.
In January 2009, Whitmarsh was elevated to president of the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA), replacing Ferrari chairman and FOTA founder Luca Cordero di Montezemolo. He held the chairmanship for three years until 2012, when he announced he would not stand for re-election.
In 2015, Whitmarsh became chief executive officer of Ben Ainslie Racing, subsequently rebranded as Land Rover BAR, the British challenger for the America's Cup. The team competed in the 35th America's Cup but was eliminated in the semi-final by Emirates Team New Zealand, who went on to win the event. In 2017, Whitmarsh stepped aside as CEO to be replaced by four-time America's Cup winner Grant Simmer, continuing as an advisor to the team.
In 2017, Whitmarsh joined the Global Advisory Board of Formula E, a body tasked with steering the series' direction as a platform for promoting electric vehicles. In October 2021, he was appointed Group CEO of the newly created Aston Martin Performance Technologies, combining the company's Formula One activities with the commercialisation of its technical capabilities and intellectual property. He held the role until October 2024, when Andy Cowell — former managing director of Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains — replaced him.
Whitmarsh is chairman and co-founder of BAR Technologies, a start-up company focused on innovative solutions for the marine sector with an emphasis on reducing carbon emissions. He also chairs Offshore Wind Growth Partnership Limited, a company formed with government and industrial support to develop the UK supply chain for offshore wind, targeting 60 percent UK content in the domestic sector.
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