The Williams F1 team has been on a recruiting drive across its technical team, announcing no less than six new hires to senior positions.
Matt Harman will join the team as design director, starting after the summer shutdown. Most recently technical director at Alpine, Harman has also worked at Renault, Mercedes and Mercedes’ powertrains division over a 24-year career in F1.
Fabrice Moncade is set to join the team as chief engineer, computing science on July 1. Formerly head of performance analytics at Ferrari, he has pioneered modern-day lap simulation in F1 and worked on two title-winning cars while at Mercedes. He has also worked at McLaren, Sauber and BMW Sauber during his 17 years in the sport.
Juan Molina will also arrive as chief aerodynamicist, starting on July 15. Previously principal aerodynamicist at Haas, he won three championship doubles during a spell with Red Bull and will report to Adam Kenyon who was promoted to head of aerodynamics in April.
Steve Winstanley has been appointed chief engineer, composites and structures to lead and transform the structures department within the design office. He brings 22 years of F1 experience including 14 at Red Bull, where he was involved in six double-championship-winning campaigns.
Richard Frith will also join Williams in 2025 as head of performance systems. Formerly head of performance at Alpine, Frith has 25 years of experience in the sport including spells with Jordan, Force India, Sauber, Marussia and McLaren.
All five will form part of the technical team being led by Pat Fry, who joined Williams in November. They are among 26 recruits from other F1 teams who will join Williams over the year, including several from Mercedes and Ferrari, four from Red Bull and 10 from Alpine. There has been a particular focus on strengthening the aerodynamics team, with 11 hires, and the design office with 13.
These hires will be joined by Sorin Cheran, who arrives at Williams as chief information and analytics officer after a 17-year career with Hewlett Packard Enterprise. He specializes in artificial intelligence and innovation and will lead a transformation of how the team acquires, stores, indexes and uses data to build a best-in-class technology operation.
James Vowles, team principal, commented, “I am delighted to welcome these six incredible people to Williams. 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.”
