Bob Bell leaves Mercedes as role is scrapped
The Mercedes AMG team today announced the departure of Bob Bell as the team's technical director, following a spell of 2.5 years at the team. Paddy Lowe will take over Bell's responsibilities.
"Bob Bell resigned his position in December 2013 and will leave the team at the end of November 2014, with the intention of pursuing new challenges outside the company."
He has held the position of Technical Director since April 2011. Bell previously worked for Benetton, Jordan and then 10 years at Renault F1 before moving to Mercedes.
The team also notes that in the future, Paddy Lowe, who currently is leading the team along with Toto Wolff will take over Bell's work.
"Moving forward, the team will streamline its technical organisation and Executive Director (Technical) Paddy Lowe will assume the responsibilities previously held by Bob. The role of Technical Director will not be replaced."
The move is interesting to say the least and follows the departure of Ross Brawn from the team. Brawn, who was previously the team's principal, was ousted as the management, or rather Toto Wolff, considered his role obsolete and not useful for the team. Bell's departure appears to be a similar story with the de-facto standard "Technical Director" role scrapped within the team.
