MAY 12, 1997

What now for Dernie?

HAVING been replaced as technical director of Arrows by John Barnard, Frank Dernie is now looking at his Formula 1 future.

HAVING been replaced as technical director of Arrows by John Barnard, Frank Dernie is now looking at his Formula 1 future. The 47-year-old designer has worked in Grand Prix racing since joining Hesketh in 1977 with lengthy spells at Williams and Lotus before he joined Ligier in 1990. He moved to Benetton two years later but was then sent back to Ligier when Tom Walkinshaw moved from Benetton to the French team at the end of 1994. When Walkinshaw pulled out of the operation in March last year and bought Arrows Dernie went with him.

Dernie says he is not particularly bothered about being a technical director as he would prefer to be involved in the research and development programs rather than being an engineering manager.

Rumors in Monaco suggested that Frank will either go back to Benetton or will be picked up by Ross Brawn to work on R&D at Ferrari. If that happened it would be ironic as Brawn started his career as Dernie's assistant in the research and development department at Williams in the early 1980s...