Word on the beat, June 2021

New recruits for Williams and more Covid chaos

Jost Capito
Author

Mark Hughes

  • New Williams boss Jost Capito, above, has wasted no time in recruiting his former VW Motorsport technical director François-Xavier Demaison to the same position at Williams F1. Together they won multiple WRC titles. At the same time Willy Rampf has been recruited as a technical consultant. He is also a former VW Motorsport technical director and prior to that served many years in that position in F1 for Sauber. Capito has rubbished suggestions that this could be VW’s entry into F1 by stealth and insists the team wishes to remain independent.
  • The Canadian Grand Prix looks almost certain to be cancelled at the time of writing because of concerns about Covid transmission in the country. Istanbul Park is standing by to take over the date for another Turkish Grand Prix – which is logistically a good fit given that the date is one week after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. But it’s understood to be far from a done deal commercially. Meanwhile it has been confirmed that the long-awaited Miami Grand Prix is set to become a reality next year and will be added to the official 2022 calendar.
  • Alpine Sport has completed a total redevelopment of its Viry Châtillon F1 power unit plant which has expanded from 1600sqm to 4000. The facility is under the direction of Cyril Dumont, Sebastian Vettel’s former Renault engine expert at Red Bull.

Maurizio Arrivabene

  • Former Ferrari team principal Marco Mattiacci above, has been recruited as an adviser to Aston Martin Lagonda but not, as reported in some places, with any planned involvement in the Formula 1 team.

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