All credit to Yahoo news. Former Ferrari technical director Aldo Costa will join the Mercedes GP team alongside Geoff Willis, the German manufacturer confirmed on Friday. Costa left Ferrari in May after a disappointing start to the season for the Italian squad, and, as reported by AUTOSPORT earlier this month, he will work again alongside Ross Brawn at Mercedes. The duo worked together at Ferrari during Brawn's spell at the team. Costa will join Mercedes as engineering director on 1 December. Willis joins Mercedes after having left the HRT squad recently, and he will work as technology director starting 17 October. "I am delighted to announce that Aldo Costa and Geoff Willis will be joining the team," said Brawn. "Geoff is a highly respected engineer with over twenty years of Formula 1 experience, and we look forward to his arrival next month. "Having worked closely with Aldo for many years, I know that he will bring dedication and championship-winning expertise to the team when he joins in December. "Building a winning team is an exciting challenge for us all as we work towards the competitiveness and standards that we aspire to as the Mercedes-Benz works team. With a strong technical structure led by Bob Bell, we are moving ourselves into the best possible position to achieve our ambitions." Brawn said recently that Mercedes GP needed to ramp up its infrastructure if it was going to take on big-money teams like Red Bull Racing, McLaren and Ferrari. His outfit had cut back its staffing numbers considerably following Honda's withdrawal, and he suggested that once it was happy with its structure it would look to expand its head count so it moved up to the limit of F1's Resource Restriction Agreement. "To add people you have to have the structure you need, and obviously one of the big things for the team is Bob Bell joining us," Brawn said. "The infrastructure has to be in place before you can start adding numbers. And I think we've strengthened the structure. "It's always nice to do well with the smallest number possible, and there is the RRA limit, and we are looking to move to that absolute limit. "At the same time the other teams are coming down to it because they are still on the glide path down to the RRA limit, so in 2011 the teams who are bigger still have the benefit of that glide path down to the RRA targets." So are Mercedes slowly growing into a winning force? Former Ferrari technical chief will bring much needed experience and knowledge to the baby Mercedes team. They are in a much better position than last year, will next year follow the same pattern ?
on a side not Ive heard that Rory Byrne has returned to Ferrari and teaming up with Fry to work on the 2012 Ferrari, Officially the 2012 car though has been designed by Nicholas Tombazis. Tagged onto the news above, There is alot of talent in the design department going on to Rival Newey at RB. Interesting to see what happens.
The team of Brawn, Bell, Willis and Costa will be a powerhouse. They should make a step forward in 2012, but I don't expect them to challenge the big boys. If they can utilize their technical team more effectively, I'm confident that they'll have a car capable of the occasional podium next year. I can't imagine them winning until at least 2013.
My thoughts on todayâs confirmation of the recruitment of Geoff Willis and Aldo Costa: This was certainly big news. It was a bold statement of intent. Now to match that kind of announcement, Mercedes need to deliver. 2012 is going to be a critical year for Mercedes. With this kind of technical team, success of the very highest nature will be demanded- there may even be a danger of the plug being pulled if no improvement is delivered. Basically, the Silver Arrows are under enormous pressure next year. Thereâll be no excuses for failure. No lack of resources argument. No Schumacher struggling to get familiar with an F1 car again claims. And there can certainly be no excuse that the new recruits wonât be able to fit in to their new team; Willis has worked at Brackley under the BAR/Honda guise, whilst Costa has lengthy experience of working under Brawn at Ferrari. No, what this announcement means is that Mercedes must deliver in 2012. Their very future may depend on it.
Thumbs up, maybe their first couple of wins in 2012 with the WO3. After that (if Schumi retires after 2012) Lewis could come to Mercedes, I really want the SilverArrows back on top just like in the old days with Fangio etc... they need top tier drivers in that team and I dont think Paul could fill the void of Schumacher just yet, maybe the year after that or 2015 after spending 3-4 years in F1, could become 1 tough bastard. Mercedes would then have 2 experienced drivers to use.
If they aren't too far down the road with the 2012 design then they may be able to have some influence. Otherwise they will have to lok at 2013 if Costa and Willis have a majorly different design philosophy to thr current Mercedes team. Mercedes need some new input if they want to move up the grid.
This is great news! If Schumi get a few podiums or there about next year, I ca't imagine that he will retire. He will sign another 2 year contract or something. He want 9 more wins to break 100 and he want another WDC. If the car improves enough for him to taste the podium, he will become hungrier than ever. One can hope..
Maybe an extension if he knows a win from strong podium places in 2012??? Haha your last point is a fact.
