Grove based Williams has signed a raft of new technical appointments, with some aerodynamicists plucked from top teams including McLaren and Renault.
Following the announcement of AT&T as a $50m per year title sponsor, and the semi-works Toyota engine deal, the personnel shake-up is more good news for the beleaguered former champions ahead of 2007.
Williams finished a lowly eighth in the constructors’ title of 2006, and in Brazil admitted that technical director Sam Michael’s role would be ‘re-defined’ ahead of the first race of next season.
The centrepiece of the new appointments is Renault’s deputy head of aerodynamics Jon Tomlinson, and Amit Chakraborty from McLaren.
New chief designer Ed Wood harks from Prodrive, and he will be joined by former Jaguar man John Russell.
Other changes involve the systems support department, team co-owner and engineering director Patrick Head said.
“When you’re in a pit without much light at the top and everybody’s working like hell and you’re not making progress, you’ve nearly always got to bring in a bit of new blood and so we’ve had a few changes,” the Briton confirmed.
GMMF1
DailyF1News.com
