Personnel

This forum is for all dedicated past and present Formula One personnel discussions. This includes people such as team principals, designers, engineers, race directors, FIA personnel, etc. New threads cannot be started in this forum, so if you wish to start a discussion about a particular person, post it in the main F1 discussion forum and click on Report, asking to have it moved here. The title of the thread should just be the person's name. Only one thread per person is permitted.

Fernandes came into F1 as an unknown Quantity but everyone knows who he is now. Fernandes came into F1 with the intention on bringing the Lotus name back to this much loved sport. Fernandes has had struggles with regards for the rights over the Lotus name and was taken to an FIA court over the name when Renault bought the rights to have the Lotus name. Lotus Renualt won the row and Group Lotus were forced into changing their name. Now the team goes under the name of Caterham. Fernandes and his team are now considered to be many peoples second favourite team on the grid. Since entering the sport Fernandes has spread his wings and has entered into the world of Football having bought London Club Fernandes. Will Fernandes's...

"The Bear." After successes in Sportscars with Jaguar, Ross Brawn moved to Formula One with Benetton, where his strategical understanding of how to use refuelling pitstops effectively helped Michael Schumacher to his first two titles. He then moved to Ferrari, helping Schumacher to another 5 titles, before going on a sabbatical for 2007. He showed up at Honda in 2008, quickly deciding to abandon the season in favour of being the best placed to capitalise on the 2009 rule change. Though Honda pulled out, Brawn GP (as they became) had easily the best car at the start of the season, largely due to the Double Diffuser loophole Brawn had pointed out to the FIA and the FIA had decided to ignore. This allowed Jenson Button to rack up...

I was surprised to see there wasn't already a thread about this most famous of (former) team principals. Much has been said about Ron Dennis and his unique personality and approach, mostly taken with a pinch of salt and slight chuckle. Well perhaps this article, by a former McLaren employee, will dispel some myths while simultaneously reinforcing others: http://f1elvis.com/2012/11/07/mr-ron-dennis-cbe/ (Alternative link: http://www.pitlanemagazine.com/magazine/?p=435) Love him or loathe him, Dennis' tenure at McLaren will be remembered for a long time to come and it is inevitable that current and future team principals will be compared to him.

The Man that keeps Felipe Massa calm in the Ferrari Car. Rob Smedley was Born in Middlesbrough in 1973 and grow up in the Normanby area of the town. Smedley started his Motorsport's career by been a suspension design engineer for the Peugeot Touring car team in 1997. He then went on to work in the F3000 series and the Williams Touring Car team, before ending up at Jordan F1 racing team until 2003. After 2003 Smedley moved to the Scuderia Ferrari team and half way between 2006 he took over as Felipe Massa's race engineer and has been in the same role for the past 6 years. Smedley is now well famous around the world for his radio message to Felipe Massa in Malaysia 2009 by telling him to stay cool baby. Smedley also was behind the...

Nicholas Richard Fry is the CEO of Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One team. He was MD of BAR Honda, coming from Dave Richards ProDrive operation, from 2002 and continued in that role when Honda bought the team out in 2006. When Honda withdrew from F1 in 2008, having won only a single race, Fry continued in a senior management role at the newly born Brawn GP and then became CEO when Mercedes bought Brawn at the end of 2009, having won both the Drivers and Constructors Championship. To read this in Nick Fry speak please add a comma and and an "Ah" after every 3rd word. Nick Fry is one of F1's great survivors. Every time the Brackley team are sold there are rumours about his position but he keeps hanging in there. No idea how, but...

Well this woman is an inspiration for women wanting to get into F1. In 2010 she became the CEO of the Sauber F1 team and by 2012 she's now become the first woman to be an F1 team principal. I think this achievement is a thread deserved on its own. Rumors are also mounting that Bernie Ecclestone has targeted Monisha as an heir to his F1 empire as well :). All I can say is :goodday: off to this extraordinary women, who will surely inspire women like myself to get into F1 :).

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/max-mosley-sues-google-in-landmark-battle-over-digital-rights-a-853008.html

Well he's the man that's incharge at Mclaren but what do we all really know about the man named Martin Whitmarsh? Well i can tell you that he has a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He started his career at British Aerospace (best known as BAE systems these days) as a structural analyst engineer at Hamble-le-Rice. But in 1989 he was joined Mclaren as Head of Operations. In 1997 he was then promoted to Managing Directors role in which he was in charge of the F1 operation and it's partners and sponsors. In 2004 Martin was again promoted this time his position was CEO of the companies F1 operations. It wasn't until the 1st March 2009 when Ron Dennis was stepping down from his position, as Team principal that Whitmarsh was promoted...

I will put up short bio of Jean Todt in the near future but this was more to post the fact that he and Gerard Saillant (president of the FIA Institute) are suing Phillipe Streiff after comments he (Streiff) made after Jules Bianchi's accident. http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ex-f1-driver-philippe-streiff-sued-by-todt-and-saillant-after-comments These were Streiff's comments: http://www.grandprix247.com/2015/01/22/streiff-blasts-todt-for-bianchi-accident-cover-up/

Someone has said it on this site before, I think it was Brogan, but the problem isn't that Tilke is necessarily a bad designer but the only one that is used to design tracks and therefore they all seem to be the same. This problem is further compounded when his hands are tied by Bernie - "you must have so and so corners and so many straights". So a creative man is not even allowed to be creative - a sad indication of the times :(

Its all gone very quiet on the Briatore front, hasn't it? Having made a song and dance about how he didn't have a life ban from Formula One and he could return, as Pat Symonds has, in 2012, it seems strange that Briatore hasn't washed up in the sport. So what is going to happen? The rumours of Mark Webber to Ferrari suggest that he might be involved in that team next year - are Ferrari going to make Stefano Domenicali the scapegoat for their failure to win the title and bring in an Italian three-time Constructors Championship winner? Or is Briatore simply a persona non grata within Formula One as he is within football? Do FOM believe his return damages the brand (for no great payout). I, personally, believe we have not seen the...

EJ Former race driver, Former F1 team owner, he is also a business man an entrepreneur and a mentor. At present he is lead analyst for the BBC's F1 coverage and seems to know before anyone else exactly what is going with both, the drivers and teams. So what are your thoughts of the man in the know...