Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsSauber

Sauber signs Smith as new technical director

Sauber has appointed Mark Smith as its new technical director, with the former Caterham man set to start on July 13.

Smith has previously worked for Jordan, Red Bull and Force India before joining Caterham (then named Team Lotus) as technical director in 2011. With Sauber having not had a technical director itself since James Key left the team ahead of the 2012 season.

Key's departure saw Sauber restructure its technical organisation and work without a technical director, but team principal Monisha Kaltenborn says the team wanted to add a figurehead to that group.

“After talks with the technical committee, we have searched for a Technical Director for the Sauber F1 Team – and found Mark," Kaltenborn said. "Mark Smith is an engineer with a lot of experience in Formula One.

"Above all, he knows the environment in which privateer teams must work and the challenges that are there - and how important it is to keep calm and keep things in perspective. With us he finds technical possibilities on a very high level. We wish Mark a good start for which he has our full support.”

Sauber says the technical committee - comprising of the heads of car performance, aerodynamics and the design groups - will remain otherwise unchanged, with Smith taking responsibility for overlapping tasks.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.