Ryar wrote: ↑01 Dec 2021, 11:32
Just_a_fan wrote: ↑01 Dec 2021, 10:49
I see Red Bull's head of aerodynamics, Dan Fallows, is leaving to join Aston Martin. Sounds like a hefty period of gardening leave before he can start work there, however.
That's the second senior aerodynamicist that RBR have lost to AM after Andrew Alessi was "poached" earlier this year.
Edit: Fallows was announced earlier this year too, it seems but I missed it back then.
It's an interesting situation with these guys. Peter Prodromou went to McLaren and barely made an impression, until James Key joined. It was mistake from RB to not have promoted James Key from Toro Rosso to RB, who is a fine technology leader as proved with Force India, Sauber, Toro Rosso and now with McLaren.
Dan Fallows lead the RB17 that started out as quite a disappointment, until Newey came back to design office. Both these guys were second-in command for Newey. It would be interesting to see how Fallows would do at AM.
Some people fly when they are made the top dog so that might happen with Fallows.
I do wonder if there might be a case of "Newey would/wouldn't do it this way" at Red Bull. Perhaps his status cramps others - it's not unknown in organisations for that to happen. The Royal Navy had, for many, many years, the mantra "what would Nelson do?". It led to lots of problems within the organisation over the years.
Of course, with the new cars being fairly prescriptive and the lead in times for design, any effect Fallows and Alessi might have at AM won't realistically be seen until 2023 at the earliest.
The movement of staff between teams is, of course, nothing new and is to be expected especially where people feel the need for a new challenge - such as moving from a dominant team to one currently less dominant in the hope of helping that one become the dominant team. I can see why people would move to Red Bull's new engine facility for this type of reason.
If you are more fortunate than others, build a larger table not a taller fence.