There are reports that there is another technical restructuring taking place at Mercedes AMG Petronas. Given that the current structure has not even had time to settle down, it seems rather more likely that any shuffling going on is simply to redistribute roles following the departure of Loic Bigois, who had been managing aerodynamic programmes.
The news that Mike Elliott has joined the team is rather out of date, as he took up his new role as head of aero in April, taking over that position from John Owen, who was moved up to a bigger role. The team is somewhat top heavy in terms of engineering management, with Ross Brawn as team principal, Bob Bell as technical director, but only since April 2011. Geoff Willis joined as technology director in October last year and Aldo Costa was added as engineering director last December. To suggest that all of these people are going to be shovelled out of the way after less than a year is not a very sensible idea. It is more logical to suggest that Brawn and Bell are strengthening the Mercedes team with people they know from their previous jobs in F1, the aim being to get the best possible crew together to improve Mercedes’s performance. Putting them together in the right structure is the challenge.
Elliott is a PHD from Imperial College, London, a celebrated training ground for F1 engineers. He joined McLaren in 1999 and stayed until 2008 when he was recruited by Renault to be a senior aerodynamicist, under Bell’s guidance.
As a now long suffering fan of Mercedes, where does this leave the team?
Are they merely still a rehash of the old Tyrrell/bar/Honda team, or can we start to expect more from them soon?
Too many cooks…..?!
Nice to see Mike Elliot doing well. He seemed to have been on the express lift towards stardom from early on. Most folks who have been track aerodynamicist at McLaren have done well for themselves.
So what is Norbert’s role now, it is just entertaining vips?
Where would Ascanelli fit into this?
Ignore my comment above – I got confused with the teams. Ascanelli may be heading to Maranello according to a whisper on this blog. But i blame Mercedes GP for my confusion – they seem to hire only TD’s these days …
As they say in French, too many cooks spoil the recipe. The pompous title I prefer is Geoff Willis’ : Technology Director!
All the others, please don’t touch Technology before speaking to Geoff!
I still can’t get my head around the number of Premiership clubs who employ a Director of Football. Presumably so everyone else on the Board can focus on the important stuff like real estate, sponsorship, branding, merchandising and rights deals.
I see that Man U are in the mire. Their proposed float at $16 a pop for “B” shares is being treated with the disdain it deserves. The owners, the Glasiers want to have their cake (which is in huge debt) and eat it but get some other poor sap to pay for it. They too have abandoned Singapore as a float venue.
So now, who is designing next year’s car? Bob Bell? John Owen? These days aerodynamicists tend to come & go and don’t appear to leave indelible stamps. I rather think it’s the interaction between the technical director and his chief engineer which makes the difference, unless you are Mauro Forghieri. Or Patrick Head. Or John Barnard. Or Rory Byrne. Or Adrian Newey. In which case you need most of the colleagues & staff only to bring the sausage and the wine for the week-end BBQ.
Joe. Could these poor results from Mercedes over the past 3 years lead to Ross Brawn being shown the exit door? Surely 3 years is long enough without good enough results?
Mr.Brawn has proven long term that he is a star in F1. The problem may be that the massive Mercedes corporate involvement has handcuffed Mr.Brawn from making the final decisions he believes will bring success. We see this corporate confusion often when big manufacturers come to F1. Like Chris stated…too many cooks.
Where are all these luminaries going to go when the door closes? Can’t be too long now before the Board realises the best shot MB has at F1 is via their engine in the back of a McLaren?
Mercedes is a brilliant brand in F1 but remember the great results of the recent past have been with the mclaren team, as partners, being an engine supplier is one thing, building a competitive car is quite another science.Its not that they cant do it, it takes years and years of effort. Remember BMW went through this phase and got in to a mess in the end after they left williams grands prix team, i remember reading at the time that BMW telling williams how they want the car designed and this wasnt very helpful as they wernt even partners only an engine supplier.Its easy to shoot these engineers and aerodynamisicts and co but these are top notch crew, maybe mercedes are getting desperate seeing their investment not maturing well. Mercedes bought brawn on the back of that fantastic season when they won the WDC and constructors and obviously they were hoping for more.At this moment in time the F1 regulations have tipped the sport on its head, even now the WDC for alonso is not a cert, it could be any of the top 4 to 5 drivers. I dont want to sound a pesimist but Mercedes should have stayed with Mclaren, they would be sitting pritier then where they are right now.
Joe,
How much data do these engineers take with them when they leave a team, go on gardening leave for 6 months and then restart at a new team?
How does a person in one team let someone know that they are willing or looking for something new? Is there like a recruitment agent of sorts for these types of people? Or do they employ managers like the drivers?
Would be interested to know how it comes about – the movement of the people behind the scenes so to speak, maybe article by you would be helpful in explaining how it works.
No way if knowing