Andretti fills two further senior F1 roles

Andretti has filled two additional key positions as it continues to bolster its roster despite awaiting official confirmation it has a place on the F1 grid, Speedcafe can confirm.

Earlier this month, Speedcafe learned Andretti had signed former Renault technical director Nick Chester to that position.

The 25-year F1 veteran was most recently the technical director at Mercedes’ Formula E operation, a position he held for two years prior to joining McLaren in Formula E last September.

It has now emerged that Andretti has recruited John McQuilliam as chief designer and Jon Tomlinson as its head of aerodynamics.

McQulliam has a welter of design experience, initially spending 16 years as a chief designer with Jordan Grand Prix from 1991-2007 before joining then F1 newcomers Marussia in 2009 in the same role.

The 60-year-old stepped up to become technical director in 2015 before bowing out of F1 at the end of the 2016 season following the collapse of the team.

McQulliam has spent the last six years with Prodrive Composites, initially as chief engineer and then director of engineering.

On his LinkedIn page, it now says that as of this month (March) he is the chief designer with a ‘top-tier motor racing team’.

Tomlinson has a similar post on his LinkedIn page, albeit he joined Andretti in December as aero chief.

The 50-year-old previously worked with McQulliam at Jordan from 2000-2002 as a senior aerodynamicist before two spells with Renault spanning just over 10 years either side of five years with Williams.

Most recently, Tomlinson worked at Mercedes as head of aerodynamics of the Formula E team and then as resource manager of its Applied Sciences division.

Even though Andretti has not yet been given the green light by the FIA to pursue its F1 ambitions, after only submitting its Expressions of Interest bid in February, it is gambling on being confirmed by recruiting significant names in the industry.