tbeeornottbee wrote:I have been wondering for a while about the technical structure of the Mercedes Team. As far as I can tell the team is structured somewhat like this:
Ross Brawn - Team Principal; Bob Bell - Technical Director; Aldo Costa - Engineering Director; Geoff Willis - Technologies Director; John Owen - Chief Designer; Mike Elliot - Head of Aerodynamics
It has also been widely reported that Aldo Costa is heading up the 2013 car development while Geoff Willis is taking charge of the '14 car.
So can anyone tell me what Bob Bell and/or John Owen do if that's the case. The likes of Pat Fry, Adrian Newey, Paddy Lowe, and James Allison are all known as the person who directs/decides on the development of the car in their respective teams, they essentially decide/sign off on their car's design philosophy.
Also they are all notably always trackside with their cars (This must be advantageous to see their's and other's cars in action, otherwise why would they be there at all and not in the factory) Yet i'm struggling to find a picture of Bell or any of the other Merc tech team trackside. Is this maybe due to a lack of a defined boss or did the super tech team all take their jobs in Merc because they didnt want to go trackside anymore, and now there's no one to do it?
Just seems to me to be a lack of cohesion. Each man on the Merc team can probably design an entire car in their own right. Bell was Renault TD for Alonso's 2 championship wins. Costa worked as deputy designer under the great Rory Bryne at Ferrari. Willis is supposedly brilliant in aerodynamics....
Please, someone shed light on this for me
(hope ive posted this in the correct place)
TL;DR Merc tech team, who does what?
Bob Bell - Engine Integrations - 2014
Aldo - Suspension and Mech, Overall 2013 design
Willis - Wind Tunnel (he spec'd it @ Honda so he came in handy for the upgrades since it is an unusual wind tunnel with an open chamber design)/CFD and Aero Innovations for 2014
Owen - Designed the W02 and W03 now works under Aldo on the design team
Elliot - Aero design (working on 2013)
Brawn - Team Principal
Wolff - Merc Sporting Manager and possible replacement for Fry
Lauda - SH1T stirrer
Easiest way to think of it is this - R&D is for the future and then there is production which is current.
Bell and Willis are doing R&D
Aldo and Elliot are dealing with production cars
Brawn is coordinating it all and trying to find loop holes in the rulebook
Wolff is the commercial manager
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