Boullier replaces Bell at Renault

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Bob Bell was Renault team principal in 2009

Renault team principal Eric Boullier has taken over as managing director of the team following the departure of Bob Bell.

Renault F1 Team chairman G?â?®rard Lopez said:

We would like to thank Bob Bell for his contribution to the performance of the team and for helping see us through a period of transition since Genii Capital became a shareholder in the Renault F1 Team.

We are entrusting the post of Managing Director to Eric Boullier and we have every confidence that, under his leadership, we will achieve our racing objectives. Throughout the 2010 season, we have been assessing what is required to continue improving our level of competitiveness and we believe we are well positioned for the challenges ahead.
G?â?®rard Lopez

Bell arrived in F1 in 1982, working for McLaren, where he stayed until the mid-1990s leading their research and development department.

He then joined Benetton, leaving the team briefly to work for Jordan before returning in 2001. The following year Renault took over the team.

Bell became technical director in 2003 and masterminded the cars that won the constructors’ championship for the team in 2005 in 2006, while Fernando Alonso also won drivers’ championships with the cars.

Bell acted as stand-in team principal and chief technical officer following the dismissal of Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds last year and became managing director at the beginning of this season.

Read more: Renault F1 Team information

Image © Renault/LAT

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Keith Collantine
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18 comments on “Boullier replaces Bell at Renault”

  1. Why did he leave?

    1. I’ve been in touch but so far they aren’t saying.

    2. I suppose he originally took the job of managing director only to help keep the team from further disintegration. Now that Genii have taken over operations with “their people”, he migt just want to move to try something new?

      What about Sauber? Or maybe an interesting spot at Force India, they certainly need someone to pick up the technical department?

  2. Maybe a new job? Force India? They really need a experienced men to lead those talented indieers.

    1. Force India would be very good news indeed.

      1. Whoever gets Bob Bell will be doing well indeed, he’s very well respected in the paddock it seems.

        Sauber, Lotus, Williams and Mercedes all have high profile tech people (in Sauber and Lotus’s case, robbed from FI). I don’t see Bell joining another team to be someone’s #2, so Force India, Torro Rosso are the obvious choices. Nick Wirth is in Virgin (for all he’s worth) and HRT won’t be on the grid next year.

    2. more like lotus, gascoyne said something about renault senior figures coming onboard for next year

  3. What are the differences between the two posts? Obviously the team principal is at the head of the team but what does the managing director do?

    1. He heads the Team….

      yeah also confused.

    2. Maybe the Team Principal is mostly concerned with the overall running of the operation in direct relation to the cars. Whereas the MD oversees the other stuff also, i.e. media & PR, Sponsorship etc as well as being a bit higher in the structure and therefore having more of a final say on things.

      Dunno, just hypothesising…

  4. Is Eric Boulier the guy who was a temp in charge from when Flavio got sacked until the end of that 2009 season?

    Maybe bell is leaving Renault to join soon be Renault powered Team Lotus!?

    1. No, Boullier arrived in January.

    2. That was Bell filling that role on a temporary basis at the end of 2009

  5. Sad to hear why he left, any reason why he did that? Is he joining any other team?

  6. Positions in the F1 Teams do rotate substantially between them (can’t remember how many times A. Newey has changed teams and positions)…. sort of F1-prostitution? Anyway,I am just trying to visualise how these positions change.

    Very interesting is the exchange rate between McLaren and Ferrari :-), I think Ferrari is having the upper-hand if you include the drivers.

    1. Adrian Newey switched March/Leyton House -> Williams -> McLaren -> Red Bull

      1. -> HRT.

        Go one Adrian, really impress us.

  7. I’m not sure in what direction Renault is going. Boulier some time ago ruthlessly criticized Alonso and now used Kimi for own purpose. On the track they also began to struggle against Williams and Force India not to mention possibly lost fight with Mercedes for forth place. It seemed to be renaissance but now I’m not so sure about that.

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