People

Nikolas Tombazis

An aeronautical engineering graduate from Imperial College in London, Tombazis began working with the Benetton team in 1992 and by 1994 had been appointed chief aerodynamicist. Tombazis then became one of the engineers who moved to Ferrari to reconstitute the team that had won the World Championships with Benetton in 1994 and 1995. He became chief aerodynamicist at Ferrari in 1998 and remained in Italy until 2003 when he quit Ferrari and returned to his native Greece to complete his much-delayed national service. Tombazis then joined McLaren where he was in charge of aerodynamic development. He played an important role in the design of the MP4-20 for 2005 and in April that year was promoted to the role of Director of Vehicle Projects, which in effect made him the team's chief designer.