Williams Formula 1 team has announced the recruitment of over 26 professionals from rival F1 outfits including five new senior technical members of its team with ex-Alpine Technical Director Matt Harman among them.
Team Principal James Vowles has been teasing new arrivals of a high-standing nature for some time and the Grove-based outfit released its blockbuster batch of recruitment on Thursday.
Harman joined the Williams Formula 1 project as Design Director and will take up his new post after the summer break.
The former Alpine Technical Director left Enstone in March this year but his previous experience saw him work at Renault, Mercedes and the Mercedes powertrains division, where, along with Vowles, he had a hand in the Brackley-based outfit’s championship run.
Harman worked on five title-winning cars at Mercedes along with the German marque’s power units that propelled Lewis Hamilton to his maiden title with McLaren in 2008 and the Mercedes engine that saw Jenson Button clinch the title a year later.
Another former Mercedes employee, but one who most recently worked under the employ of Ferrari as Head of Performance Analytics is Fabrice Moncade, who will join Williams on Monday, July 1 as Chief Enfinee, Computing Science.
Juan Molina will take up post as Williams’ new Chief Aerodynamicist on July 15, reporting to the team’s Head of Aerodynamics Adam Kenyon.
Molina contributed to three World Championship doubles at Red Bull and recently worked as Principal Aerodynamicist at Haas.
Steve Winstanley was involved in six World Championship doubles at Red Bull and he now heads to Grove as Chief Engineer, Composites and Structures off the back of 22 years of experience in Formula 1.
Richard Frith is rounding out the five senior recruits that will report to Chief Technical Officer Pat Fry.
Frith, the former Head of Performance at Alpine with two and a half decades of F1 experience under his belt will begin working with Williams as its Head of Performance Sytems in 2025.
In total Williams has recruited 26 new personnel who will join the squad throughout the rest of the year.
Recruitment has seen Williams poach people from Mercedes and Ferrari, four staff members from Red Bull and 10 from Alpine.
11 of the hires will work within the aerodynamics department and 13 within the design office at Grove.
Williams has also recruited from outside the sport, with Sorin Cheran arriving from Hewlett Packard Enterprise as CIAO to lead the team’s innovations with Artificial Intelligence.
This seismic recruitment drive is symbolic of Vowles’ mission to reinvigorate Williams and return it to winning ways.
“I am delighted to welcome these six incredible people to Williams,” he said.
“We are on a mission to fight our way back to the front and being able to attract experienced, Championship-winning talent from other teams demonstrates huge belief in the journey we are on.
“Williams is investing in what it takes to win, and this is just the start as we prepare to welcome more new faces from across the grid in the months ahead.”
Fry who joined the team last November noted how Williams “has bold ambitions and huge momentum, and these exceptional recruits show this is a project people want to be part of.
“We are adding strength in depth to the enormous talent already at Grove as we build for the future.”
