JUNE 12, 2003

Tombazis to Toyota!

The word on the street in Formula 1 circles is that Ferrari's chief aerodynamicist Nick Tombazis is on his way to Panasonic Toyota Racing. Tombazis has been in charge of aerodynamic work at Ferrari since 1999 and has played an important role in helping the team to its recent successes. He joined Ferrari from Benetton, following Michael Schumacher, Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn to Maranello. Neither Ferrari nor Toyota will confirm the news but it seems that Tombazis is no longer in action at Ferrari and is said to be taking six months out to do his Greek military service, which he has been putting off for some years. A six month period of "gardening leave" is now the norm for Formulam 1 engineers who wish to switch teams.

There are continuing rumours that Renault Sport's technical director Mike Gascoyne is also on his way to Toyota but once again there is no confirmation from either team. Gascoyne's failure to appear at Monaco, where Renault was supposed to have its best chance of success this year, was a clear indication that all is not well at Enstone. The biggest question now is whether or not other members of the Renault design team will follow Gascoyne.