Former Williams’ Head of Performance Engineering, Rob Smedley, could be shaping up for a return to Scuderia Ferrari. Famous for being Felipe Massa’s race engineer at the Maranello team, the Briton has more recently had a senior engineering role at Williams, but it has been confirmed that he is leaving the beleaguered British team, and as he prepares to embark on ‘gardening leave’, his next move in Formula 1 is not clear for the moment.
Speed Week reports that Rob Smedley, who still has a house in Modena, could become head of car development at Scuderia Ferrari: “I’m going on holiday there in January if that helps,” he smiled – “I would say at this moment in time I’m not closing off any options.”
It would not be the only change at Ferrari, which has been advised from all sides to improve its organisation after failing to win the 2018 title with arguably the best car: “If Ferrari can eliminate the internal confusion and support Sebastian Vettel more, concentrate better, then they have a better chance of being a serious rival to Mercedes in 2019,” Igor Yermilin, a Russian motor racing chief, told Ria Novosti.
It is rumoured that Jock Clear, a senior performance engineer, could become 21-year-old Monégasque racing driver Charles Leclerc’s race engineer in the 2019 Formula One season: “I’ve recently made a longer term commitment to the team, and as such, I will use my skill-set wherever we feel that’s best,” he said. And it is also rumoured that replacing Jock Clear in the more senior role could be Laurent Mekies, who was Charlie Whiting’s deputy race director at the FIA. After more than three years at the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, Laurent Mekies, former FIA Safety Director and Deputy to the F1 Race Director, left the Federation earlier this year, stepping down from his role as Deputy F1 Race Director in order to be eligible for a position at the Maranello team.
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