Williams has announced former McLaren COO Simon Roberts will join the team as Formula 1 managing director.
Roberts is a 17-year veteran of the sport having first joined McLaren back in 2003 as operations director and general manager before switching to Force India as COO in 2009.
A year later, however, he returned to Woking in his original role before being promoted to COO in 2017, covering both factory and engineering operations.
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Starting June 1, Roberts will embark on the newly created role within Williams as managing director F1, covering a wide variety of areas including car design, development and racing as well as operations and planning at their Grove base.
“Simon will bring enormous experience and knowledge to the Williams team, and we are delighted that he is joining us when we head back to work after this long enforced F1 shutdown,” deputy team principal Claire Williams commented.
“He will lead a highly talented team that’s looking forward to designing and developing the next generation of Williams F1 cars.”
This comes as the British team tries to recover from the worst period in their over 40-year history after spending the 2019 season firmly at the back of the grid with just a single point to their name.
Roberts is also the most senior appointment since the exit of former chief technical officer Paddy Lowe last year.
The former Mercedes boss took a leave of absence following a disastrous pre-season which saw Williams miss the first two-and-a-half days of running and wouldn’t return, announcing his departure in June.