Mark Smith | |
---|---|
Born | 9 March 1961 |
Nationality | ![]() |
Mark Smith (born 9 March 1961) [1] is a British former technical director of the Sauber Formula One team.
Smith grew up in Pelsall, a village about 15 miles north of Birmingham. He left school to undertake a technical apprenticeship with GKN Automotive who sponsored him to undertake a mechanical engineering degree course at the Wolverhampton Polytechnic, from which he graduated with a first-class honours degree in 1984.
Having participated in motocross as a youngster, Smith subsequently developed an interest in Formula One. His first job in the motorsport industry was in 1988 at Comtec, the composites wing of March Engineering. From there he joined Reynard Racing Cars in 1989 and started working with Gary Anderson, initially on the 1990 F3000 car.
In 1990, Smith moved to the newly formed Jordan Grand Prix, where he helped to design the Jordan 191 under Anderson, taking responsibility for the gearbox design and engine installation. [2] He stayed at Jordan for 11 years, progressing to the positions of head of mechanical design, and then joint chief designer with Mike Gascoyne. In 2000, Smith followed Gascoyne to Renault, taking the position of chief designer.
After a brief return to Jordan as it transitioned to new ownership, Smith moved to Red Bull Racing in 2005, firstly as deputy technical director and then technical director before moving to Force India as Design Director in 2007. Two years later he was promoted to technical director before moving to Caterham in 2011. He left in 2014 as the struggling team restructured its management in what would be its final season.
Smith was appointed technical director of Sauber F1 Team on 13 July 2015 but left the team a few days before the first race of the 2016 season, with Sauber announcing that he was returning to the UK for "family reasons". [3]
Giancarlo "Giano" Fisichella, also known as Fisico or Fisi, is an Italian racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from 1996 to 2009. Fisichella won three Formula One Grands Prix across 14 seasons.
Midland F1 Racing was a Formula One constructor and racing team which competed in the 2006 Formula One World Championship with drivers Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro. The team was created by the renaming of Jordan Grand Prix after its purchase by Canadian businessman, and owner of the Midland Group, Alex Shnaider. The team was licensed as the first Russian Formula One team, although it continued to be based in the United Kingdom, at Jordan's Silverstone factory. Towards the end of the 2006 season, the team was sold to Spyker Cars N.V.; the team raced in its last three Grands Prix under the official name Spyker MF1 Racing. In 2007, the team competed as Spyker F1, and in 2008 was sold to Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and was renamed to Force India.
Adrian Martin Newey is a British engineer, aerodynamicist, automotive designer and motorsport executive. From 2025 onwards, Newey is set to serve as technical director and co-owner of Aston Martin in Formula One; he previously served as technical director of Leyton House and McLaren, chief designer of March and Williams, and CTO of Red Bull Racing. Widely regarded as one of the greatest engineers in Formula One history, Newey's designs have won 12 World Constructors' Championship titles and 223 Grands Prix between 1991 and 2024.
Michael Robert Gascoyne is a British Formula One designer and engineer.
The 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 60th season of Formula One motor racing. It featured the 57th Formula One World Championship which began on 12 March and ended on 22 October after eighteen races. The Drivers' Championship was won by Fernando Alonso of Renault for the second year in a row, with Alonso becoming the youngest ever double world champion at the time. Then-retiring seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher of Scuderia Ferrari finished runner-up, 13 points behind. The Constructors' Championship was won by Renault, which defeated Ferrari by five points.
The World Series Formula V8 3.5, formerly the World Series by Nissan from 1998 to 2004, the Formula Renault 3.5 Series from 2005 to 2015 and the Formula V8 3.5 in 2016 and 2017, was a motor racing series promoted by RPM Racing (1998–2004) and Renault Sport (2005–2015).
Robert Charles Bell is a Formula One engineer and technical director, best known for his work with the Renault Formula One team. He is currently the Executive Director - Technical for the Aston Martin F1 Team.
James Key is a British engineer who has worked in Formula One. He is currently the technical director of Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber.
Formula One sponsorship liveries have been used since the 1968 season. Before the arrival of sponsorship liveries in 1968 the nationality of the team determined the colour of a car entered by the team, e.g. cars entered by Italian teams were rosso corsa red, cars entered by French teams were bleu de France blue, and cars entered by British teams were British racing green. Major sponsors such as BP, Shell, and Firestone had pulled out of the sport ahead of this season, prompting the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile to allow unrestricted sponsorship.
Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and Dutch businessman Michiel Mol bought the Spyker F1 team for €88 million.
Charles Pic is a French former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from 2012 to 2013.
Team Lotus, originally Lotus Racing, was a Malaysian-licensed Formula One racing team and constructor, based in Hingham, Norfolk, UK, which competed during the 2010 and 2011 Formula One seasons. The team scored no championship points in the two years it competed.
The 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 66th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 63rd FIA Formula One World Championship, a motor racing series for Formula One cars, recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) – the governing body of motorsport – as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. The championship was contested over twenty rounds, which started in Australia on 18 March and ended in Brazil on 25 November. The 2012 season saw the return of the United States Grand Prix, which was held at the Circuit of the Americas, a purpose-built circuit in Austin, Texas. After being cancelled in 2011 due to civil protests, the Bahrain Grand Prix also returned to the calendar.
The Lotus T128, known prior to its launch by its project number TL11, is a Formula One motor racing car designed by Mike Gascoyne, Lewis Butler and Marianne Hinson for Team Lotus in the 2011 Formula One season. 2011 saw the car abandon its Cosworth engine in favour of one developed by Renault. The T128 was launched online on 31 January 2011. Team Lotus retained an unchanged driver lineup in 2011, with 2010 drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli racing the T128. It was confirmed that the team would start the season without the Kinetic Energy Recovery System, but senior figures suggested they would adopt it if the car proved successful, however the team continued for the rest of the 2011 season without KERS. The team changed from the Cosworth CA2010 engine used in 2010 to the Renault RS27 series, as well as exchanging a transmission developed by X-Trac to one built by Red Bull Technologies. The design of the T128 also incorporated a "bladed" rollbar similar to the one developed by Mercedes in 2010, but thicker and with sturdier air intakes to conform with FIA regulations.
The 2013 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 67th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 64th FIA Formula One World Championship, a motor racing series for Formula One cars, recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) – the governing body of motorsport – as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. Eleven teams and twenty-three drivers contested the nineteen Grands Prix that made up the calendar for the 2013 season, with the winning driver being crowned the World Drivers' Champion and the winning team the World Constructors' Champions. The season started in Australia on 17 March 2013 and ended in Brazil on 24 November 2013.
John Alastair Iley is a British motor racing aerodynamicist, who was formerly the technical director for the Caterham F1 team.
The Caterham CT05 is a Formula One racing car that competed in the 2014 Formula One Season. It was the last Caterham F1 car before the team folded prior to the start of the 2015 season.
The 2015 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season was a multi-event motor racing championship for open wheel, formula racing cars held across Europe. The championship featured drivers competing in Formula Renault 3.5 formula race cars that conformed to the technical regulations for the championship. The 2015 season was the eleventh and final season Formula Renault 3.5 Series organised by Renault Sport, after it was announced that the organisation would withdraw its backing of the championship at the end of the season.
Andrew Green is a British Formula One engineer. He is currently the chief technical officer at the Aston Martin Formula One team.