Mercedes have confirmed Bob Bell will become the team’s technical director from the beginning of April.
Bell left Renault last year having been with the team since 2001.
He held several different job titles in the team following the Singapore Grand Prix crash scandal. He took over as team principal and chief technical officer in 2009 after Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds left the team.
He went on to become managing director but Eric Boullier took over the role as Bell left the team in October last year.
Before joining Renault Bell also worked for McLaren, Benetton and Jordan.
Team principal Ross Brawn said: “Bob’s appointment is a key step in the strengthening of our excellent technical team and we are pleased to have recruited one of the most experienced engineers in the sport.”
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BasCB (@bascb)
18th February 2011, 8:18
This looks pretty good for Mercedes. And it gets someone into the team to be a bit of a sparring partner for Brawn on both Technical issues as well as race strategy.
JoeE
18th February 2011, 8:21
Nice to see Bob getting a new role.
Adrian J (@adrian-j)
18th February 2011, 9:18
NOW I think Mercedes might be in with a shot at giving Schumi his 8th title.
All credit to Ross Brawn, but he needed someone to beef up his technical department and Bob Bell is an excellent choice – just look how last year’s Renault turned out after the flop that was their 2009 car!!
Coefficient
18th February 2011, 9:28
Agreed, a good solid engineer!! All they need now is an aero maverick and they’ll be unstoppable.
IceMan
18th February 2011, 9:59
I am afraid any team will have a shot at Championship untill Adrian retires. I wonder Ferrari and McLaren don’t have someone as good as Newey. :(
Ned Flanders (@ned-flanders)
18th February 2011, 11:05
This is a good move for Mercedes. Presumably though his input won’t be felt until the 2012 season at the earliest?
Shimks
18th February 2011, 13:33
I don’t know, Ned. Look how quickly James Key started turning things around at Sauber last year.
Eggry (@eggry)
18th February 2011, 16:31
Good for Merc, Bad for Renault. I have doubt how many high class engineers remains at Renault.
MinusTwo
18th February 2011, 19:01
If we believe the reports that Mercedes is off the pace this year, it will be interesting to see how much development they are able to do throughout the season with a guy like Bell onboard. I hope they can be competitive this year and really shake up the front runners to give us a more interesting and competitive season.
US_Peter
18th February 2011, 22:13
Even if it takes until the end of the season to be competitive it would be great to see more frequent podiums, and maybe a couple wins for them. Wherever they end up though, the inter-team battle between Nico and Schumi will be one of the best to watch this year.
George (@george)
18th February 2011, 22:21
Good move for Merc, since the Brawn days I’ve been quite sceptical of their development potential, but this might be a step forward.