Ciaron Pilbeam

Ciaron Pilbeam
Nationality	British
Citizenship	British
Education	Automotive Engineering Mathematics
Alma mater	Cranfield University Cambridge University
Occupation	Engineer
Years active	1999-present
Employer	Alpine F1 Team
Known for	Formula One engineer
Title	Technical Director, Performance
Parent	Mike Pilbeam (father)

Ciaron Pilbeam is a British Formula One engineer. He is currently the Technical Director, Performance at the Alpine Formula One team. ^[1]

Career

Pilbeam first started at British American Racing working in Vehicle Dynamics. A year later, he worked closely with Jock Clear as Assistant Race Engineer to 1997 Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve. Pilbeam continued working with BAR as Race Engineer to Takuma Sato before moving to Red Bull Racing in 2006 with Christian Klien. In 2007, Pilbeam took on the role as Mark Webber's Race Engineer, keeping that position for six years. ^[1] He assisted nine race wins for the Australian and contributed to three constructor world championship titles. ^[2] Pilbeam gained headlines after Webber and Vettel's crash at the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix, with media speculation that Pilbeam ignored a direct team order from Christian Horner to advise Webber to move aside for the German. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

Ahead of the 2013 F1 Season Pilbeam joined Lotus F1 Team as Chief Race Engineer to Kimi Raikkonen, with Raikkonen's former engineer Simon Rennie heading to Red Bull Racing. ^[6] Pilbeam was with Raikkonen for just one season, but stewarded his win at the Australian Grand Prix the last win for the 2007 World Champion until 2018. ^[7] Pilbeam moved to McLaren the following year in an identical role. ^[8] After one seasonw with McLaren, Pilbeam returned to Enstone under the renewed Renault F1 Team as Chief Race Engineer alongside Rob White joining as COO. ^{[9] [10] [11]} In 2021, Pilbeam was reuinted with Fernando Alonso at Renault with the pair having worked together at McLaren. ^[12] Early in 2024, Pilbeam was appointed one of three main technical director's for Alpine, after Matt Harman and Dirk De Beer resigned and Bob Bell joined Aston Martin. ^{[13] [14]}

Personal life

Pilbeam's father is Mike Pilbeam who designed racing cars for multiple manufacturers including BRM, Lotus and Surtees. ^[15] Pilbeam contributes as a tutor to students at the MIA School of Race Engineering. ^[16] Pilbeam cited his first test with BAR at Silverstone as the moment he became hooked on Formula One. ^[17]

References

1. "Ciaron Pilbeam". Side Podcast. Archived from the original on 5 September 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
2. "Tension inside Red-Bull F1 Team before the start of 2013 season". sportskeeda. Archived from the original on 5 September 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
3. "New evidence to explain Hamilton's displeasure". bbc.co.uk.
4. "Red Bull Absolve Webber's Race Engineer of Turkey Mistake". autoevolution.com.
5. "Webber-Vettel crash at Turkish GP still shrouded in mystery". autoblog.com.
6. "Webber and Raikkonen swap race engineers". grandprix247.com.
7. "Kimi Raikkonen might be the right man in the right car this season". bbc.co.uk.
8. "Renault names Ciaron Pilbeam chief race engineer". ESPN. 15 December 2016. Archived from the original on 5 September 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
9. "Ciaron Pilbeam, ingeniero jefe de McLaren, se marcha a Renault". motor.es (in Spanish).
10. "Pilbeam leaves McLaren for Renault as Enstone expansion continues". motorsport.com.
11. ""We'll need to learn how high the degradation is" – Alpine's Ciaron Pilbeam". Nick Golding. July 2021. Archived from the original on 4 September 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
12. "Alonso makes Renault F1 factory return to Enstone". motorsport.com.
13. "Three technical directors: Big change at Alpine after key exits". the-race.com.
14. "Alpine brain drain continues as key engineer reunites with Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin". planetf1.com.
15. "Mike and Ciaron Pilbeam, F1 from father to son". autohebdof1.com.
16. "Tutors". schoolofraceengineering.co.uk.
17. "My F1 First". mclaren.com.