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FIA signs up Nikolas Tombazis to oversee single-seaters

The FIA has appointed former Ferrari chief designer Nikolas Tombazis to head up the technical department overseeing Formula 1.

As well as Grand Prix racing, Tombazis will also be in charge of looking after the technical side of Formula 2 and Formula 3.

He will report directly to the FIA's Head of Technical, Gilles Simon. The former Honda Formula 1 engine consultant joined the FIA last summer as part of a reshuffle of the FIA's technical division.

FIA race director Charlie Whiting was appointed head of the department as part of the same reshuffle. Tombazis will now work in close cooperation with Whiting in 2018.

Tombazis previously worked as chief aerodynamicist at Benetton from 1992. He then joined Ferrari in a similar role until 2003.

After he left Maranello, Tombazis joined McLaren for a two-year spell before returning to Ferrari as chief designer. He stayed with the Scuderia until the end of 2014.

He subsequently joined Manor in 2016 as chief aerodynamicist, but the team went into administration at the end of the season.

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Since then, Tombazis has opened his own consultancy business and been visiting professor of aerodynamics at Imperial College London.

He has also been working alongside Formula 1 director of motorsport Ross Brawn. He was one of a number of experts tapped by Brawn to help new owners Liberty shape the future of the sport.

Now he's officially joined the FIA, in a similar position to that previously held by Marcin Budkowski. The 40-year-old Pole quit his post as head of the FIA's Formula 1 technical department in September.

Budkowski has since taken up a management role at Renault F1. After complaints from teams about his access to sensitive research and development projects, Budkowski remains on 'gardening leave' until April.

In taking over, Tombazis will contribute to the long-term strategy of the FIA's main single-seater championships. Among the responsibilities he will assume is to help frame changes to sporting and technical regulations.

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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.