Robert Charles Bell (born 10 April 1958) is a Formula One engineer and technical director, best known for his work with theRenaultFormula One team. He is currently the Executive Director - Technical for theAston Martin F1 Team.[1]
Bell attendedQueen's University in Belfast, gaining a doctorate in Aeronautical Engineering.[2] before joiningMcLaren in 1982 and worked as the company aerodynamicist until 1988, when he was promoted to head of research and development for the next two years.[3] In 1997, Bell moved to theBenetton Formula team, working there withNick Wirth.[4]
He worked as the Senior Aerodynamicist at Benetton until 1999, when he went to theJordan Grand Prix team joining them as the head of vehicle technology, after being invited by his formerMcLaren colleagueMike Gascoyne. Both left Jordan forRenault F1 and in 2001, Bell was appointed the deputy technical director at the Enstone team,[5] becoming the technical director in 2003 whenMike Gascoyne departed to join theToyota F1 team.[6][7]
Bell was Renault F1's technical director during the hugely successful 2005 and 2006 seasons, in which hisR25 andR26 won both the Drivers' and the Constructor's championships. The next two seasons saw very few good results, and his projects dropped in the Constructor's championship to fourth place in 2007 and 2008.
After the resignations ofFlavio Briatore andPat Symonds in relation to theRenault Formula One crash controversy, Bell was appointed acting team principal for the rest of 2009, on 23 September 2009.[8] For the 2010 season, Bell held the position of managing director for the Renault team until leaving the team on 6 October 2010.[9]On 18 February 2011, Bell was appointed as the new technical director ofMercedes GP, effective of 1 April 2011. On 14 April 2014, Mercedes announced that Bell had resigned his position in December 2013 and would be leaving the team in November 2014.[10]
On 3 February 2016, Bell was announced as the chief technical officer at the newly created Renault Sport F1 Team, with theRenault R.S.16 car. He worked at the Renault team for two years, before stepping away from the team in 2018, becoming a part-time advisor. This came after a 36-year career in Formula One.[12][13]
On 6 March 2024, Bell was announced as Executive Director - Technical of Aston Martin F1 Team.[14]
