26/11/2011
NEWS STORY
Martin Whitmarsh has confirmed that his team's Head of Aerodynamics, John Iley, is to join Caterham.
Iley, joined McLaren at the beginning of 2010 after seven years with Ferrari. A graduate of Lanchester Polytechnic in Coventry, Iley entered F1 with Jordan in 1997 after spells with Brun (Group C) and HRS Consultancy which involved working with Newman Haas, Lola and Swift in Indycar. After five seasons with Jordan the Englishman moved to Renault as Head of Aerodynamics before taking a similar role at Maranello.
While Caterham - currently Team Lotus - has yet to announce his appointment, the move, which is common knowledge in the Interlagos paddock, was confirmed by Whitmarsh, though he was unable to say when Iley will start work with his new employer.
"I've had a request from Tony (Fernandes) asking could he have him early," the McLaren boss told Reuters, "and I haven't agreed yet.
"John is a good guy and we have got a number of things that we could have him do but we will decide that in the course of the next week," he added, confirming that Iley has given in his notice to the Woking outfit. "Tony would like him earlier and we might come to an accommodation on that."
Whitmarsh says that Iley's role at Woking was managerial as opposed to the outright position of Chief Aerodynamicist.
"In fact I think he's going there in a broader role than just aerodynamics," he said. "Tony is bringing together Caterham cars and I think he will be performance director of Caterham cars."
At the beginning of the month, Lotus revealed that it had signed Renault Sporting Director Steve Nielsen.