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Geoff Willis

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For the Australian rules footballer, see Geoff Willis (footballer).

Geoff Willis
Born (1959-12-23) 23 December 1959 (age 64)
Southampton, England
NationalityUnited Kingdom British
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge – Mechanical Engineering
OccupationChief Technical Director
EmployerINEOS Britannia
Known forDirector of Engineering Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team
Technical Director Hispania Racing
Technical Director Red Bull Racing
Technical Director British American Racing

Geoffrey Willis (born 23 December 1959) is a British engineer and the Chief Technical Director of INEOS Britannia. Previously, Willis held senior technical positions with a range of Formula One teams including Mercedes, Red Bull Racing, Hispania Racing, Williams Racing, Honda and British American Racing.

Career

[edit]

In 1987 after a degree at Cambridge University in engineering, he was approached to join the design team of the Peter de Savary's British America's Cup challenger Blue Arrow and he spent the next three years designing and developing hull and keel designs for the team in preparation for the competition in San Diego.[1] In 1990, Willis moved into Formula One and joined the Leyton House team where he met, and worked alongside, Adrian Newey and it was through this association that he joined Williams, after Newey was recruited by the British team. Willis worked extensively on computational fluid dynamics at Williams, a new concept of aerodynamics and engineering in Formula One at the time. When Newey moved to rival McLaren in 1997, Willis was promoted, alongside Gavin Fisher, to become chief aerodynamicist beneath Patrick Head.[2]

Willis joined BAR in late 2001, recruited by outgoing team principal Craig Pollock.[3] David Richards joined the team for the 2002 campaign at a time where Honda reaffirmed their commitment to engine supply.[4] The team struggled during 2002 as the changes took shape, with Olivier Panis leaving ahead of 2003 to be replaced by British driver Jenson Button. The 2004 season was the most successful for the team, under Willis technical stewardship, the team finished 2nd in the constructors championship behind Ferrari.[5] At the end of the season, Honda took a 45% acquisition of the team, and whilst Richards would move on, Willis remained as Technical Director for the final season as BAR in 2005.[6][7]

Willis oversaw the new Honda RA106 built to the new Formula One specifications for the 2006 season.[8] However, by late June, his role within the team became unclear when Honda appointed Shuhei Nakamoto as Senior Technical Director.[9] Willis had been told to stop going to races in order to focus on aerodynamics, which appeared to conflict with the appointment of Mariano Alperin to head the aerodynamics group using Honda's new full-size wind tunnel. Willis would leave the team shortly afterwards.[10]

On 17 July 2007, Willis was hired by Red Bull Racing as the team's Technical Director, once again under Newey.[11] He left Red Bull in July 2009 after his role was made redundant.[12][13]

Willis joined the new Hispania Racing F1 Team in March 2010.[14] In September 2011 he left HRT, reportedly because the team had not assured him of necessary financial backing for designing the car for 2012 Formula One season[15] and joined Mercedes as Technology director on 17 October 2011.[16]

In 2022, Willis joined INEOS Britannia as Chief Technical Director, supporting the team in the Americas Cup yacht race.[17][18]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Blue Arrow". americas-cup-history.at.
  2. ^ "The BAR Tender:". atlasf1.autosport.com.
  3. ^ "BAR Snitch Williams Chief Aerodynamicist Willis". autosport.com.
  4. ^ "Richards joins BAR, Honda renew". grandprix.com.
  5. ^ "Bahrain Preview". atlasf1.com.
  6. ^ "Richards leaves BAR as Honda buy stake". theguardian.com.
  7. ^ "The Full Statement by BAR-Honda". autosport.com.
  8. ^ "Tech Talk Geoff Willis". autosport.com.
  9. ^ "A big change at Honda". grandprix.com.
  10. ^ "Willis Departs". grandprix.com.
  11. ^ "Geoff Willis joins Red Bull Technology". grandprix.com. 17 July 2007. Retrieved 18 July 2007.
  12. ^ "Willis parts company with Red Bull". itv-f1.com. 9 July 2009. Archived from the original on 11 July 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2009.
  13. ^ "Willis axed by Red Bull". crash.net.
  14. ^ Freeman, Glenn, ed. (11 March 2010). "Pit & Paddock: HRT: The Great Unknown". Autosport. Vol. 199, no. 10. pp. 14–15.
  15. ^ "Tech chief Willis leaves HRT" Archived 28 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine 18 October 2010, ITV.com
  16. ^ "Aldo Costa and Geoffrey Willis to Join Mercedes GP this Year". Mercedes (Press release). 30 September 2011. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2024 – via Motorsport.com.
  17. ^ "Meet Geoff Willis, Chief Technical Director". ineosbritannia.com.
  18. ^ "'Floating F1 cars' chase America's Cup victory". bbc.co.uk.


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