OCTOBER 18, 1999

Engineers on the move

A number of senior Formula 1 engineers are on the move in the weeks ahead with the major player being Dr. John Davis, who has been head of research and development at Jordan Grand Prix for the last couple of years. Davis has left Jordan and is expected to begin work shortly with Williams, where he will be given a top engineering position.

Davis has links with Williams dating back to the early 1980s when he worked at the Imperial College windtunnel in London. This was used by both Williams and Lotus at the time and the relationship with the F1 teams resulted in Davis being offered a job by Team Lotus. He became an important member of the team who developed active suspensions but in 1988 went to work for the Lotus road car division to develop active suspensions for production cars. He returned to racing in 1990 with the revived Team Lotus but in the middle of 1992 was lured away to France by his old design boss at Lotus, GerardÊDucarouge. He stayed in France until 1994 and then spent a year with the electronics company Pi Research in Cambridge followed by a spell with Patrick Racing in CART.

Davis's exact role within the team is not yet clear but he may replace John Russell who joined the Williams F1 operation this summer after the BMW Le Mans team was closed down. Russell has been offered a major role with the new Jaguar F1 team and has decided to take up the offer.