Simon Roberts (born 27 September 1962) is an engineer who has held management positions with

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

teams

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

Force India Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 20 ...

and Williams.

Career

Roberts studied

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

, before being employed at

Perkins Engines Perkins Engines Company Limited, a subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc since 1998, is primarily a diesel engine manufacturer for several markets including agricultural, construction, material handling, power generation, and industrial. It was establis ...

diesel and gas company in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

. He then became head of production engineering for the company before transferring to Rover Car, where he was director of the powertrain division and supervised the company's acquisition by BMW in 1994, after which Roberts oversaw the transmission and suspension operations of the company in the UK until 2000, when he decided to move to

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...

as chief operating officer whose role is to supervise the development of the Pendolino pendulum train project. This went into operation in 2001 and Roberts became the company's industrial director before deciding to transfer to

in September 2003 as general manager, being responsible for coordinating the manufacturing and assembly process for the test and race team. He then became director of operations for the team in 2004. In 2009, he was hired by the

team as its chief operating officer for the 2009 season. But on 15 October 2009, Force India announced that

Otmar Szafnauer Otmar Szafnauer (born 13 August 1964) is a Romanian-American engineer. Biography Szafnauer was born in Semlac, a small village in Western Romania to an American father of German descent and a Romanian mother. His family moved to Detroit in th ...

would move to the position of chief operating officer for the team while Roberts returned to his job at McLaren in the 2010 season. In 2017, he was appointed director of operations at McLaren during a managerial reshuffle, with him now being responsible for track and factory operations. In June 2020, Roberts became the managing director of Williams. However, after Claire Williams left the Williams team, he was appointed as their interim Team Principal. On 17 December it announced that Roberts was to be made the permanent Team Principal of Williams Racing. On 9 June 2021 it was announced that Simon Roberts would be leaving the team, and his replacement would be CEO Jost Capito.Williams CEO to take Team Principal Role
'' Auto Action'' 10 June 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Simon 1962 births English motorsport people Formula One team principals Living people Alumni of the University of Manchester Williams Grand Prix Engineering