JANUARY 13, 2006

Toet fits the bill at BMW

BMW has been looking for a new head of aerodynamics to strengthen the team in Hinwil and it seems that the team has decided that Willem Toet is the man for the job. Toet recently left the Honda Racing F1 team after falling out with the management.

Toet is a highly-experienced F1 aerodynamicist having worked on and off in F1 since 1985 when he joined Toleman after cutting his teeth in British racing with Ray Mallock. He stayed at Toleman after the Benetton takeover and remained with the team until the end of 1994 when he was poached by Ferrari. He spent four years in Italy before returning to Britain to be a senior aerodynamicist at British American Racing.

The moves does not necessarily mean the end of the road for Seamus Malarky, the current chief aerodynamicist at Sauber. BMW team boss Mario Theissen said before Christmas that the team's recent expansion meant that he was looking for a chief designer and a chier aerodynamicist to allow others to do their jobs more effectively.

"We have an aerodynamicist who is innovative and strong but we do not have someone to coordinate all the aero projects. That will be a person who is capable of orchestrating all the efforts in the windtunnel, the model shop, the model design and the CFD. That is way beyond the role of a senior aerodynamicist."