FEBRUARY 26, 2005

Smith joins Red Bull

Mark Smith, recently technical director of Jordan and chief designer of Renault, has been hired by Red Bull Racing. The 43-year-old Englishman starts immediately and will presumably be the man in charge of the design of the RB2, the 2006 car. Smith made his name at Jordan in the 1990s and then moved with Mike Gascoyne to Renault in 2000 where he worked in alternation with Tim Densham on the design of the cars which have made the team much more competitive than was the case.

"Mark is widely respected throughout the entire sector," says Red Bull technical director Gunther Steiner. "He did exceptional work for both Jordan and Renault and is one of Formula 1's most experienced technical experts. We're really delighted we were able to win him over."

The team has also signed up Anton Stipinovich. The 42-year-old South African is the new head of the development team. He spent the past four years working for Ferrari following four years with McLaren.