F1 technical chiefs of today

[raymondu999]

I know nowadays everyone talks about Newey when talking about technical chiefs, and given that he has, for the last 3 years, designed a car that has never been lower than 2nd fastest, I think rightly so. Also rightly so given that he is the last of the real "celebrity designers" like the Colin Chapmans, Rory Byrnes, etc.

Say he wasn't in the equation. Who do you think would be the people who would do best? Not just restricted to the technical directors (or equivalent title in each team) but to whichever design engineer? (i.e. not just the Paddy Lowes/Pat Frys/Giorgio Ascanellis, but including the Mark Smiths, Nikolas Tombazis's, Peter Prodromous, Rob Marshalls etc)

[xpensive]

I beieve that Mike Gascoyne is xtremely underrated, so is Neil Oatley, Giorgio Ascanelli and Sergio Rinland. I think.

[raymondu999]

Wasn't ascanelli once a Macca man? I've heard of Rinland before, but I've never known where he has worked before. Gascoyne I only know of his Toyota/Findia times, and a not-so-successful Renault stint? Isn't Neil Oatley mclaren's current aero man under Paddy Lowe?

[marcush.]

I ´m full of admiration for Ascanelli ,also James Key has really shown he has what it takes .Geoff Willis really is my man doing a incredible job with not much more than a shoestring at his disposal and facing the maximum in terms of uncertainty ...so he has to remain very flexible =realistic in setting targets and modifying plans.
I really have a soft spot for Nick Wirth as well.Now it pretty much shows that his work was not that bad at all ,Lotus having real difficulty to put space between themselves and Virgin and HRT.
Mclaren in my view seems to be the one team acting very sucessfully in a comitee or team decision structure not led by a single leader but that could be just perception and not reality.

[xpensive]

Gascoyne was hampered by the cumbersome 111 degree Renault V10, but Alonso still took his first victory in 2003 in that car, but when the time Gascouyne left for Toyota, he had set the foundation for Bob Bell's 2005-06 winners.

Sergio Rinland designed the gorgeous and innovative twin-keel Arrows A23, the team's last car.

Neil Oatley is McLaren's xecutive director of engineering.

Giorgio Ascanelli is currently Toro Rosso's technical director, making a lot from very little.

[Byronrhys]

I always say James Key and Bob Bell, we know what Bell can do and I really want to see Key get a break and muster up a beast.

[raymondu999]

This year Renault has had many new front wings, but not all of them has worked well, though they did in 2010. I wonder if some of that is due to Bell...
I find it quite interesting that not many people have mentioned the more obvious ones like Paddy Lowe/Pat Fry etc actually...

[xpensive]

...
I find it quite interesting that not many people have mentioned the more obvious ones like Paddy Lowe/Pat Fry etc actually...

Perhaps because Neil Oatley is the McLaren's pointman when it comes to design engineering?

[tok-tokkie]

I am very interested in your points about Gascoyne, X. I had seen him as someone who the commentators praise because he is British & has a high profile (is good at getting attention & publicity) but who had never achieved anything. Especially with a huge budget at Toyota. And then Toyota seemed to chuck him out - because of his failure to produce anything better than ordinary. I am not well informed so am pleased to be given a different perspective.

[xpensive]

Mike Gacoyne was Technical director for Jordan wen the team were both winning races and even briefly challenged for the championship with H-H Frentzen in 1999. He brought some of his staff to Renault in 2001, but was bogged down by the cumbersome 111 degree V10, though the results were good enough for Toyota to shell out a gargantuan salary for his services in 2004-2005.

It all ended in tears however when he was backstabbed by homeboy Ralf Schumacher who blamed him for just about everything, his inability to speak German and weekly commuting from England didn't help either.

Sadly, his days att a top-team are probably over as his pit-bull reputation has finally cought up with him it seems.

[marcush.]

Gascoyne is labeled rottweiler for a reason and his task at toyota was not an easy one.He swung the big axe and got rid of the useless ballast in there but he just did not realise that Cologne is something special even in Germany ...So no wonder that Ralfi was not one of his best friends.They needed to remove him at one point as things would have exploded methinks.
BTW Gascoyne by far exceeded the tasks set for him
Gascoyne was deputy technical dírector with Harvey Postlethwaite at Tyrrell and followed him to Sauber (where they did the first Formula 1 car for Sauber).Gascoyne went back to Tyrell(joining Postlethwaite there again)doing four cars there before moving to Jordan where his reputation really took off .Also with Benetton he mastered the turnaround bringing them back on the winners road before landing that 8Mill deal with Toyota .After this he came back to Jor..err Spyker /Midland /Force India and started the turnaround back into competitiveness.

[Giblet]

Gascoyne was a little bit stubborn before that he was right and doing things the right way. I think with his gardening leave and consultancy work for other teams before coming back with Lotus has numbed that 'my way or the highway' attitude me thinks.

He was huge on not having barge boards on the Toyota, when all he other teams were showing well with them. As soon as he was gone, they slapped on the barge boards.

[raymondu999]

Slightly off topic, but I find it amusing that you can actually find some of these guys on LinkedIn! Lol. I did some quick searches and guys like Neil Oatley was actually on LinkedIn

[Richard]

Gascoyne is labeled rottweiler for a reason and his task at toyota was not an easy one.He swung the big axe and got rid of the useless ballast in there but he just did not realise that Cologne is something special even in Germany ....

They needed to remove him at one point as things would have exploded methinks.

Cologne being so special that the team was closed down. Maybe Gascoyne's root & branch changes (ie explosion) would have made them a sustainable team?

[marcush.]

I got to know a supplier to Formula 1 (to almost all teams)and he was always shaking his head about Toyota and some of the guys working there...and that supplier is situated in Germany.
example:they claimed some parts for dulling of color after cleaning them in service. A short callback revealed they used Acetone for cleaning the painted surface,offering only :we clean everything with acetone....so what can you do...that was after Mikes departure btw. so I think he had a very nice time there...well paid but wearing.