DECEMBER 9, 2005

Movements in the F1 paddock

This is the time of year when the race teams are trying to improve themselves and there have been several significant moves between the teams in recent times with Renault in particular suffering the loss of several top people, as other teams try to improve themselves and at the same time knock Renault down.

The team has lost chief mechanic Jonathan Wheatley who will become team manager of Red Bull Racing, replacing longtime incumbent Dave Stubbs. In addition we are hearing that designer Rob Marshall has been lured to RBR. The team has also hired two new race engineers with Kieran Pilbeam coming in from BAR and Humphrey Corbett arriving from Toyota. Sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso is also undergoing change with the departure of deputy technical director Andy Tilley and the arrival of Toyota's logistics manager Gianfranco Fantuzzi to run things for new team principal Franz Tost.