14/12/2006
NEWS STORY
It's rumoured that Fernando Alonso's engineer at Renault, Rod Nelson, is heading to Williams, though the Grove outfit remains tight-lipped.
If the rumours prove true however, it's unlikely that Nelson would have anything to do with the test team and would instead concentrate fully on the race programme.
Nelson, who obtained his PhD in Mechanical Engineering (computer control of hydraulic systems) at Cardiff, made his F1 debut in 1990 with Arrows, subsequently spending spells at Simtek, Arrows (again) and Benetton, which he joined in 1997. This season he has been Alonso's chief race engineer.
It's thought that Nelson's recruitment is aimed, among other things, at allowing Sam Michael to spend more of his time focussing on car design.