21/05/2024
NEWS STORY
F1 hopefuls Andretti Cadillac have announced the recruitment of F1's chief technical officer, Pat Symonds.
"We are pleased to announce that British motor racing technical expert Pat Symonds will join the Andretti Cadillac team in pursuit of entering the FIA Formula One World Championship," said the team in a brief statement.
"Symonds, who most recently served as Chief Technical Officer for Formula One, will officially join the team at the new Silverstone base of operations on completion of his gardening leave at Formula One Management."
Indeed it was only today revealed that Symonds was leaving his post at F1, and while his departure didn't draw the widespread speculation or excitement that Adrian Newey's did, it was appreciated that with his 'inside knowledge' he would make a valuable addition to any of the current teams.
Symonds, who joined F1 in 2017, played a leading role in the rules overhaul of 2022 and since Ross Brawn's departure has virtually taken charge of the overhaul planned for 2026.
While it wasn't known that he clearly had a new role lined up, it was speculated that with the 2026 rules on the verge of being confirmed now was a good time for the Briton to move on.
Having begun his career in junior series, Symonds, who gained a Masters in aerodynamics at Cranfield University, joined Toleman in the early 80s, remaining with the team as it morphed into Benetton and finally Renault.
For a time he was Michael Schumacher's race engineer at Benetton, while also assuming the role of Head of Research and Development. When, Ross Brawn followed Schumacher to Ferrari, Symonds was appointed Technical Director, switching to the role of Executive Director of Engineering when Mike Gascoyne joined the Enstone outfit.
His career in F1 almost ruined by the Crash-gate saga, Symonds returned to F1 in 2013 as a consultant to Virgin Racing. In fact, following Nick Wirth's departure from Virgin, Symonds became de facto technical boss at Virgin however due to his (then) ongoing ban as a result of the Singapore scandal he remained a consultant, even if in name only.
In 2013 he joined Williams as Chief Technical Officer, leaving at the end of 2016 to eventually fulfil the same role at F1.