Former Caterham, Force India, Red Bull and Jordan Technical Director Mark Smith has been appointed to the role of Technical Director at the Sauber F1 Team.
The 54-year-old Briton will take on the role from 13 July, moving to be near the Hinwill factory in Switzerland, and will oversee the majority of the technical department for the Swiss team.
“When I saw the facilities for the first time in Hinwil,” said Smith, “I immediately realised the possibilities I would have.
“The wind tunnel, the supercomputer and the machine shop – everything is on a very high technical level. And not to forget the competence of the team.
“These facts were compelling reasons and arguments for me changing to Hinwil. The potential of Sauber is enormous, which is not self-evident in a constantly changing Formula One world.
“The factory in Hinwil has all the requirements to be competitive in Formula One.”
CEO and Team Principal Monisha Kaltenborn has welcomed Smith’s appointment, and believed he was the right man for the job as the team aim to move forwards up the Formula 1 grid once more.
“After talks with the technical committee, we have searched for a Technical Director for the Sauber F1 Team – and found Mark,” said Kaltenborn.
“Mark Smith is an engineer with a lot of experience in Formula One. Above all, he knows the environment in which privateer teams must work and the challenges that are there – and how important it is to keep calm and keep things in perspective.
“With us he finds technical possibilities on a very high level. We wish Mark a good start for which he has our full support.”
