Geoff Willis has been relieved of his role as technical director at
Red Bull Racing, apparently the latest victim - and the most high-profile - of the wave of redundancies being forced on
Formula One teams.
With the Milton Keynes outfit yet to issue official confirmation of Willis' departure beyond the brief comment that 'it is correct that Geoff Willis' position has become redundant in the team', the reason behind the decision is far from clear.
Silverstone race winner Sebastien Vettel also revealed that the speculation was correct during one of his numerous pre-race interviews in Germany.
"Geoff did a lot of work and thanks to him we are where we are now," Vettel told
BBC's
Radio 5Live, "It's always very difficult if someone leaves, but we have a very good harmony in the team and it shouldn't affect our performance at all."
Willis was seen as a key addition to
Red Bull following Adrian Newey's headline-grabbing switch to the then midfield runner. The former
Williams and Honda design man was charged with ensuring that Newey's sometime radical design ideas were translated into production, and corralling the technical team at RBR to produce the tight-knit race-winning operation that is currently attempting posing the closest threat to
Brawn GP's championship ambitions.
