Bob Bell (motorsport)

Bob Bell
Born	April 10, 1958 Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Alma mater	Queen's University
Years active	1982–present
Employer	Renault Sport F1 Team
Known for	Formula One aerodynamicist
Children	Katherine Bell Michael Bell

Robert Charles "Bob" Bell (born 10 April 1958 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is the Chief Technical Officer of the Renault Formula One team.

Bell attended Queen's University in Belfast gaining a doctorate in Aeronautical Engineering.^[1] before joining McLaren in 1982 and worked as the company aerodynamicist until 1988, when he was promoted to Head of Research and Development for the next two years.^[2] In 1997, Bell moved to the Benetton Formula team, working there with Nick Wirth.^[3]

He worked as the Senior Aerodynamicist at Benetton until 1999, when he went to the Jordan Grand Prix team joining them as the Head of Vehicle Technology, after being invited by his former McLaren colleague Mike Gascoyne. Both left Jordan for Renault F1 and in 2001, Bell was appointed the Deputy Technical Director at the Enstone team,^[4] becoming the Technical Director in 2003 when Mike Gascoyne departed to join the Toyota F1 team.^[5][6]

Bell was Renault F1's Technical Director during the hugely successful 2005 and 2006 seasons, in which his R25 and R26 won both the Drivers' and the Constructor's championships. The next two seasons saw very few good results, and his projects dropped in the Constructor's championship to fourth place in 2007 and 2008.

After the resignations of Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds in relation to the Renault Formula One crash controversy, Bell was appointed acting team principal for the rest of 2009, on September 23, 2009.^[7] For the 2010 season, Bell held the position of Managing Director for the Renault team until leaving the team on October 6, 2010.^[8] On 18 February 2011, Bell was appointed as the new technical director of Mercedes GP, effective of 1 April 2011. On 14 April 2014, Mercedes announced that Bell had resigned his position in December 2013 and would be leaving the team in November 2014.^[9]

Prior to the 2015 Canadian Grand Prix, Manor Marussia announced the recruitment of Bell as technical consultant.^[10]

On 3 February 2016, Bell was announced as the Chief Technical Officer at the newly created Renault Sport F1 Team, with the Renault RS16 car.

References

1. Saward, Joe (2006-07-12). "Bob Bell - the art of winning". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc.
2. "Bob Bell moves into the spotlight". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. 2003-10-16.
3. "People: Bob Bell". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc.
4. "Renault Sport grabs Bell". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. 2001-10-25.
5. "Renault confirms Bell". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. 2003-10-15.
6. "Renault announce Bell as Technical Director". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration Ltd. 2003-10-15.
7. Noble, Jonathan (2009-09-23). "Bell to be Renault boss for rest of '09". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
8. Noble, Jonathan (2010-10-06). "Bell leaves Renault team". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2010-10-06.
9. "Bob Bell to depart Mercedes AMG Petronas". Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team. 14 April 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
10. Parkes, Ian (1 June 2015). "Manor F1 team recruits ex-Mercedes technical director Bob Bell". Autosport. Retrieved 5 June 2015.

External links

• Bob Bell profile on Renault F1 website