Pat Symonds, Formula 1‘s Chief Technical Officer, revealed that – despite an early decision to retire – he will remain in his job for a good while.
A report back in December 2021, revealed that both Ross Brawn and Pat Symonds would be out of their roles in Formula 1 by the end of 2022, and while that turned out to be true for Brawn, who announced he would be heading into retirement a decision he announced as he wrote in his final column for F1’s official website in November of 2022.
However, Pat Symonds, the person who played an integral role within the team Brawn put together to develop the new F1 aero regulations for 2022 won’t be following his boss out of the sport, something he announced speaking to Motorsport.com last Friday.
“I had a plan to retire last summer,” Symonds revealed. “I actually handed in my year’s notice. You have to think about these things.
“My notice was accepted, and then Stefano [Domenicali, F1 CEO and president] got to hear about it, and he was like, no, I don’t think it’s a good idea!
“So I’m still here, still doing it, and I still will be for a good while yet,” the former Williams technical boss added.
New F1 regulations a reasonable success
The new aero regulations F1 launched in 2022 – with ground effect cars making a return, and the introduction of low profile tyres on 18″ wheels – where hailed a great success by many, and Symonds agrees, looking back on how the rules – aimed at improving racing and cars following each other – became a reality.
“We put together a really talented team, very small team, and we really went back to basics,” Symonds began.
“We had the two objectives,” he went on. “One was to make the wake behind the car more benign, because you can’t get rid of it, it’s going to be there. And then secondly, accepting that there was a wake and trying to produce a car that was running in that wake to be less affected than in the past.
“Generally speaking, I think we got it right,” the Briton claimed. “We’ve seen a few different solutions, the cars looked different, the drivers were very complimentary. The statistics, for want of a better word, showed the cars were running closer together.
“So yeah, I think it’s been a reasonable success,” the man, who – Renault tech boss – was involved in the in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix Crashgate saga, maintained.