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Marussia appoint Tombazis as chief aerodynamicist

Marussia have recruited former Ferrari chief designer Nikolas Tombazis as their new chief aerodynamicist ahead of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Tombazis, who joins the team with immediate effect, has a prestigious history in the sport, having served as chief aerodynamicist at Benetton, Ferrari and McLaren over the past 23 years. He has spent the last nine years as Ferrari's chief designer.

"I am very happy to be joining the Manor F1 Team at this exciting time in its development," Tombazis said.

"The team has impressive plans and is investing in all the right areas to achieve its on-track ambitions, so I am very much looking forward to being part of that journey.

"The existing design team is already very strong and I look forward to working with a great group of people to make the most of the opportunities that lie ahead to help us progress through the field over the next few seasons."

Tombazis will work under the leadership of technical director John McQuilliam, who hailed the new appointment. "I believe this will help to amplify the efforts of a very talented design team that, in recent years, has not had the opportunity to showcase the full extent of their experience and capabilities," McQuilliam said.

"I am confident that, together with our new Mercedes power unit and Williams gearbox and technical partnership, our new aero structure will provide us with the strength to design and develop consistently competitive racing cars to help steer us towards our long-term ambitions."

Marussia, who are yet to reveal their driver line-up for the 2016 season, experienced a staff shake-up at the end of last year following the departures of team principal John Booth and president and sporting director Graeme Lowdon, and the arrival of Dave Ryan as racing director.

However, the team remain on course for the first pre-season test of the year in Barcelona on February 22, having successfully completed the final crash test on their now fully homologated new chassis.

(source: f1.com)

McLaren appoint new race team CEO

The McLaren F1 team have appointed Volkwagen Director of Motorsport Jost Capito as their new Chief Executive Officer.


Capito, who will take up his new role in due course, succeeds Jonathan Neale who, having been acting CEO of McLaren Racing for the past 22 months, has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer of McLaren Technology Group.

Capito and Neale will work closely with Eric Boullier, who retains his position as Racing Director, and will report directly to the McLaren group’s Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ron Dennis.

“I first approached Jost last summer,” said Dennis of his move for Capito. “He is an extremely impressive, competitive and ambitious individual, who comes to us with a very wide range of automotive and motorsport experience, encompassing senior positions at BMW, Porsche, Ford, Sauber and, since 2012, Volkswagen, leading the latter company’s World Rally Championship team to consecutive world titles in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

“From a motorsport perspective he has experience in not only the World Rally Championship but also Sports Cars, Touring Cars, Motorcycle Racing and Formula One, about which he is hugely knowledgeable and infectiously passionate.

“I am therefore delighted to welcome Jost to McLaren, and I am certain that he will work extremely well with Eric and all at McLaren Racing, building on the very good work they have already done to take the McLaren-Honda programme forward towards Grand Prix victories and world championship successes.”

The management change comes as McLaren go into 2016 looking to recover from the worst season in their F1 history.

(source: f1.com)

Pirelli confirm tyre choices for Russia

Pirelli have announced the three tyre compounds they’ll bring to the fourth round of the 2016 championship in Russia, and they’re exactly the same as for the first three races of the season - supersoft, soft and medium.

As per the revised 2016 rules, Pirelli have also nominated the two sets of tyres that the teams must have in their race day allocation, and as with the first three events these will be the soft and the medium. Each driver must use at least one of these mandatory sets during the course of the race.

Every team must also save a set of supersoft tyres for Q3, but they have a free choice over the remaining compounds that make up their 13-set weekend allocation. The teams must inform the FIA of their choices no less than 14 weeks ahead of the race.

The 2016 tyre choices so far:

1. Australia – supersoft, soft, medium

2. Bahrain – supersoft, soft, medium

3. China – supersoft, soft, medium

4. Russia - supersoft, soft, medium

(source: f1.com)

Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren to attend Pirelli wet tyre test

Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren have been confirmed as the three teams that will participate in Pirelli’s upcoming wet-weather tyre test, to be held at the Paul Ricard circuit in France on January 25 and 26.

The two-day session - the first track activity of 2016 - will focus exclusively on full-wet tyres (as opposed to intermediates), with several different prototypes being evaluated.

As per the regulations, none of the teams in attendance will be running with new cars, and Pirelli will dictate each squad's programme.

Stoffel Vandoorne will be behind the wheel of an MP4-30 on behalf of McLaren, with details of the other participating drivers set to be made available in the coming days.

(source: f1.com)

Haas on target for February test debut

Formula One racing’s newest team, the American-led Haas squad, are on schedule to appear at next month’s opening 2016 test after their car passed its final mandatory FIA crash test.

“Good job guys!” was driver Romain Grosjean’s response as the team confirmed the news, which means they are now clear to take part in the first of two pre-season tests at Spain’s Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The car, the name of which has yet to be announced, features a Dallara-built chassis and power from Ferrari, with whom Haas have a multi-year technical agreement, also covering supply of transmission and other components, as well as support.

Driving it on its race debut at March’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne will be Grosjean and team mate Esteban Gutierrez, the former Sauber racer returning to the grid after a year away as a Ferrari tester.

Before then, both men are expected to sample their new machine in testing on February 22-25 and March 01-04.

(source: f1.com)