Aston Martin has persuaded a former Red Bull engineer and old colleague of Adrian Newey to return to Formula 1. The British engineer is reportedly brought in to optimize the simulator technology at the home base in Silverstone. Giles Wood held a similar position at Red Bull for seven years, under the watchful eye of Newey. He played a key role during Sebastian Vettel‘s heyday.
Wood bid farewell to Formula 1 in 2017, after a final stint at Red Bull Advanced Technologies. He moved to California to work for tech giant Apple, where he worked on autonomous driving technologies. However, Aston Martin has now managed to convince the British engineer to return to the premier class. At the Silverstone team, he is reunited with designer Adrian Newey. The celebrated engineer and aerodynamics guru joined Aston Martin this year. In addition, the team has appointed Gioacchino Vino as head of aerodynamics. The Italian came from Mercedes and also has a past at Red Bull.
Correlation Problem
During his first appearance with Aston Martin in Monaco, Newey already admitted that the team is struggling with the correlation between the simulator and the performance on the track. According to the 66-year-old Brit, there is still much to gain. “I think I can admit that some of our tools are a bit weak, especially the simulator,” Newey told the media. “A lot of work still needs to be done on it, because there is currently no correlation at all, while the simulator is a fundamental research tool. If it is missing, that is really a limitation.”
“In the meantime, we will just have to work around it,” he continued. “Later, plans should be made to solve these problems. We are probably talking about a two-year project.” With the recruitment of Wood, Aston Martin has clearly acted according to Newey’s wishes. Wood may be responsible for improving the simulators in Silverstone in the coming period.”
