GEOFF WILLIS – ENGINEERING DIRECTOR
Like James Allison, Geoff Willis earned his diploma in mechanical engineering from Cambridge, but he didn’t go straight to F1. He made his professional bones at the Teddington national laboratory of physics where he studied water dynamics, while also getting a doctorate in hydrodynamics. In 1987 he joined the design team of the British challenger in the America’s Cup. He shaped the hull and the keel of the ship over three years using a brand new technology: CFD (computational fluid dynamics), which he also used in his first F1 gig at Leyton House in 1990.
Adrian Newey asked him to bring CFD to their small design office, before taking Willis with him to Williams in 1991. Willis absorbed everything he could and took over the reins of the department in 1997 when Newey left for McLaren. Along with chief designer Gavin Fisher, he designed all the Williams F1 cars just until 2001.
In 1987 he joined the design team of the British challenger for the America’s Cup. For three years, he shaped the hull and the keel of the ship using a brand new technology : CFD (computational fluid dynamics) before everyone else.
In 2001 he became the technical director at BAR, where he brought in a team of engineers following Reynard’s insolvency in 2002. The team’s progress was gradual: 8th in 2002, 5th in 2003, 2nd in 2004, 6th in 2005 – the year of the controversial double fuel cell and the sale of the team to Honda. Despite a victory the following year in Hungary (the first for Jenson Button), the Japanese constructor decided to bring in its own people and Willis had to cede his duties to the inexperienced Shuhei Nakamoto. With not much to keep him around, he hooked up Adrien Newey at Red Bull in 2007. The collaboration ended in July, 2009 (for unknown reasons).
Willis took a consulting job in March 2010 at HRT. In October 2011, he was recruited by Ross Brawn to be the Mercedes Technology Director, where he supervises aerodynamics, vehicle dynamics the control systems and simulator.
