Williams has hired two new senior members of its technical team ahead of the start of the 2020 F1 season.
The team has announced David Worner will join them as chief designer and Jonathan Carter is to be made deputy chief designer and head of design “in the near future”.Worner arrives at Williams from Red Bull, where he has spent the last 17 years, having joined the team when it was banded as Jaguar. He previously held the role of deputy chief designer, which he rose to in 2014.
His new deputy Carter has spent the last four years as Renault’s head of composite design. He previously worked for McLaren, Arrows and Reynard.
The team has also appointed another engineer with the same surname, Adam Carter, to the role of chief engineer.
Williams is rebuilding its technical team following a series of high-profile exits. It parted ways with former chief technical officer Paddy Lowe following its disastrous start to last season when its FW42 chassis wasn’t completed on time for the start of testing, and lagged well off the pace of its rivals all year long.
“Dave and Jonathan bring enormous experience, knowledge and skills to the Williams team,” said deputy team principal Claire Williams. “We are delighted that they are joining us in the near future.
“They will strengthen our design capabilities and work closely with Adam Carter, our chief engineer, and the other senior members of the engineering team on the design and development of the next generation of Williams F1 cars.”
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Phylyp (@phylyp)
28th January 2020, 14:43
It’s a bit of a relief to see Williams hiring, and particularly hiring from teams like Red Bull. Let’s hope that 2020/2021 is the year they finally bounce back.
Steve Rogers (@yossarian)
28th January 2020, 15:27
Good to see Williams hiring some well experience people. But I’m a bit confused about the company structure. Is Head of Design a second role for Jonathan Carter or part of the deputy chief designer position? Why is the deputy chief the Head of Design and not the Chief Designer? And then’s there’s a completely separate position for Chief Engineer. Who has finally say on what’s being built for the car, the designer or the engineer?
Any chance anyone on here has some insight on Williams company structure and how it compares to other teams? A bit niche I know but something I would be very interested in.
Coefficient
28th January 2020, 15:38
A secondary role that attracts dividend payments perhaps? Could be a way achieving higher overall remuneration with a lower tax burden.
barryged (@barryged)
28th January 2020, 18:25
Fingers crossed for Williams, it has been a shame to see them at the bottom so much last few years. It would be nice for some other teams to take the bottom spot in races going forward.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
29th January 2020, 0:28
I’m always worried when teams hire ex RB staff. There’s a reason RB didn’t want them. RB knows what they are doing.
matt90
29th January 2020, 11:19
Who says Red Bull didn’t want them?
Renee (@renee)
30th January 2020, 18:15
Because if they were good at what they did, then RB would want them to stay and would make sure of that. So there’d be no way Williams of all the teams could get them.
matt90
30th January 2020, 20:01
Or they were offered more money. Or more seniority. Or they wanted a new challenge. Or they wanted to live elsewhere.
lfnorthy
29th January 2020, 8:57
Anyone want to take bets on how long they both last before another williams personnel restructure or some sort of falling out with management