Gilles Simon leaves the FIA to join PURE
Even though the four-cylinder was abandoned in favor of the V6, Craig Pollock still plans for his PURE project to make its debut in F1 with the engine regulation change in 2014. In order to give more weight and demonstrate the seriousness of his project, he has just secured the services of a reference in the field, Gilles Simon, who was in charge of engines at the FIA.
This appointment is a new and very important step in PURE’s development. With Gilles Simon, we will have an exceptional and renowned engine designer, who has been at the heart of the change to introduce the environment in F1, comments Pollock, head of the PURE project.
This is therefore a new heavyweight in the specialty joining a team that included Christian Contzen (architect of the Renault V10s in the early 1990s and one of the key figures in the return of the Renault F1 Team in 2001) and Jean-Pierre Boudy (turbo engines at Renault in the 70s, Peugeot at Le Mans…).
Gilles Simon will therefore be on familiar ground since he was also part of the lion company during his victories in 1992 and 1993. He then decided to join Jean Todt, who had moved to Ferrari. He held the position of engine design director at Maranello from 1994 to 2006, before becoming the director of everything related to the engine from 2006 to 2009. He then decided to follow Jean Todt again, now president of the FIA.
He possesses an in-depth knowledge of the subject and the negotiations that took place around the adoption of the new engine since he was precisely the interlocutor for the teams. Making F1 more environmentally friendly is one of my personal goals. The 2014 engine regulations mark the biggest change in this field for an entire generation. The opportunity to develop PURE engines is a fantastic challenge and allows me to return to my true passion: designing engines, explains Simon.
With the participation of RacingBusiness.fr
