Yesterday I suggested here that F1’s engine makers might not be very happy to see the FIA’s powertrain expert join Craig Pollock’s PURE organisation, and today Renault’s Rob White made its crystal clear that the manufacturers have serious concerns.
Gilles Simon was at the heart of discussions over the 2014 turbo rules – with access to inside information from the engine makers until just a few days ago – and yet will start work as technical director with Craig Pollock’s company on Monday.
It’s believed that previous FIA technical experts such as Tony Purnell – who was hired by Max Mosley – had agreements that ensured they could not make such a move.
“First reactions are fairly predictable and understandable from my part,” said White. “On a personal and professional level, we’ve had good relations with Gilles for a long time in his present – for a couple more days – job, and in his previous job at Ferrari.
“Of course, it’s of concern to all of us that in this close relationship with Gilles and the FIA over the past year, 18 months, that we’ve given unprecedented access to Gilles – we certainly have at Renault and I believe all of the engine companies have done so, particularly in respect of the state of progress in our respective engine development programmes alongside the rules package.
“And so, of course, we would be most concerned to be reassured that information to which Gilles has had access to in those very privileged circumstances as a representative of the FIA is not used in his new capacity as an employee of a competitor.”
Asked if he felt that that such a situation shouldn’t be allowed to happen in the future, White said: “It’s a very complicated sport. In order that the technical and sporting regulations can be administered successfully, then we require the governing body to have good people and they probably require to have access to the teams, and therefore there’s an obvious risk that needs to be managed, if the same people can crop up in a different shirt very shortly afterwards.”
Adam Cooper F1 
That’s a genuine concern. I don’t know how they’re going to work this out. Its strange when you consider the fact that when people switch teams, they normally go on a gardening leave before they can assume their new role. That’s fair to avoid espionage. This is a bit strange as Simon sure would have a lot of highly confidential information about the new engines from all the manufacturers.
Seems to my non technical mind that there must be some competetive advantage here. The obvious first step would be that people in these sort of technical positions need contracts like key team personnel where they need to give long periods of notice and then shopuld probably be put on gardening leave before taking up new posts.
Mercedes and Ferrari should also be concerned. However, the new engine rules are some time away, and much can happen in that period of time. I am intrigued with PURE. It does seem like quite the coop, luring Mr. Simon away from the FIA. It looks like a very tall order to pull that off.
It’s not like he took the manual down to the local copy shop.
It is not what is on paper. I believe the engine Manufacturers are upset about the knowledge in his head, that he takes with him, to PURE.
They are right. This simply smells bad.
While there is a legitimate concern here, PURE still has the deck stacked against them. For starters, they’ll need to catch up to the knowledge level of the others. Getting Simon is a step, but he’s no silver bullet. And there’s the bigger problem of money – no good having all the brains in the world if you can’t implement there ideas.