His appointed managing director of Renault F1.

Renault has announced today that Jean-Jacques His has been appointed managing director of Renault F1 France. His takes over from Christian Contzen who has been 'assigned new duties.'

The team released the following statement:

"Effective 1 March, 2002, Jean-Jacques His will be appointed Managing Director of Renault F1 France. He will take over from Christian Contzen, who has decided to step aside from his long-term commitment and let a new team take up Renault's ambitious challenge of winning again in Formula 1, this time with a full works team."

"Patrick Faure, Executive Vice President of Renault and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Renault F1, asked Christian Contzen to stay on at his side to take up new duties, which will be specified rapidly."

Patrick Faure told all the employees of the Renault F1 plant in Viry-Ch?tillon at a meeting organized on Tuesday: "Christian Contzen is the architect of Renault's success in Formula 1. He largely contributed to the 11 World Championship titles for Drivers and Constructors, won during the 1992/1997 period. And even more so, he succeeded in keeping the team's potential intact during the technology watch period prior to Renault's return to F1."

"In addition, Christian Contzen was doubly successful in internationalizing Renault Promotion Formulae and diversifying Renault Sport's operations (Spider, Clio V6 Trophy, cycles, scooters, aircraft engines etc)."

"Jean-Jacques His, an emblematic figure in Formula 1 today, was until now Technical Director of Renault F1 France. A talented engineer, he was notably the brains behind Renault's V10 engine which dominated the Formula 1 Grand Prix circuits between 1992 and 1997."