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Williams signs former Ferrari man Spagnolo

Williams has signed former Ferrari man Antonio Spagnolo in the role of Competitor Analysis and Performance Concept Team Leader.

Spagnolo was formerly Head of Tyre Performance Group at Ferrari, but Williams says he will move to Grove to focus on "augmenting car performance". The role will see Spagnolo analyse competitors' strengths and prioritise resources at Williams as a result, while he will also guide the team's Tyre Performance Group.

Reporting to head of vehicle performance Rob Smedley, Spagnolo - who has previously been Race and Performance Engineer to both Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso - will bring his experience from Maranello as Williams looks to secure fourth place in this year's constructors' championship ahead of Force India.

Pat Symonds, Williams Chief Technical Officer, says Spagnolo's addition highlights the lengths the team is going in order to improve its performance.

“Williams is determined to continue the positive momentum it has had since 2014 and, with new additions to the team, hopes to become even stronger," Symonds said. "We are constantly seeing ways to improve our performance and trackside operations and believe Antonio will make a valuable contribution to this process.

"As a team, we will do our utmost to achieve our on-track ambitions and secure strong positions in the Constructors’ Championship this season, and beyond.”

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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.