Michael Coughlan (born 17 February 1959) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of tw ...

engineer and designer. He was Chief Designer for the McLaren

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, ...

team from to , where he was suspended for his part in the spygate scandal between McLaren and Ferrari, before his contract was subsequently terminated. He was then Chief Technical Officer for

Williams F1 Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, currently racing in Formula One as Williams Racing, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded by former team owner Frank Williams and automotive engineer Patrick Head ...

from June 2011 to July 2013, before abruptly stepping down "with immediate effect," according to the team.

Career

Coughlan studied mechanical engineering at

Brunel University Brunel University London is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It was founded in 1966 and named after the Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In June ...

, graduating in 1981.

Early career

He first designed cars for Tiga Race Cars, which competed in junior formulae, until

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, when he joined the Lotus Formula One team. As the team's fortunes waned, it was reorganised at the end of

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

, and Coughlan joined

John Barnard John Edward Barnard (born 4 May 1946, Wembley, London) is an English engineer and racing car designer. Barnard is credited with the introduction of two new designs into Formula One: the carbon fibre composite chassis first seen in with McLar ...

's design company as it switched between producing chassis for Benetton, Ferrari and Arrows. Barnard parted company with Arrows after falling out with

Tom Walkinshaw Thomas Dobbie Thomson Walkinshaw (14 August 1946 – 12 December 2010) was a British racing car driver from Scotland and the founder of the racing team Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR). He was also involved in professional rugby union, as owner of ...

during the 1998 season, but Coughlan stayed on, taking the role of Technical Director in the following year. When Arrows collapsed in 2002, he was invited to join McLaren. His A23 car, developed in 2002 for Arrows before the team folded, became the

Super Aguri Super Aguri F1 was a Formula One team that competed from to . The team, founded by former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki, was based in Tokyo, Japan, but operated from the former Arrows factory at the Leafield Technical Centre, Oxfordshire, England. T ...

team's SA05 racecar four years later.

Ferrari espionage case

On 3 July 2007, Coughlan was suspended by McLaren following allegations of espionage against Ferrari. A Scuderia Ferrari press release said: The search warrant is understood to have related to Coughlan's home and the "positive outcome" is reported to be documents claimed to have originated at Ferrari's

Maranello Maranello ( Modenese: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy, 18 km from Modena, with a population of 17,504 as of 2017. It is known worldwide as the home of Ferrari and the Formula 1 rac ...

factory. Stepney's dismissal from Ferrari had been announced earlier the same day. On 6 July Honda F1 released a statement confirming that Stepney and Coughlan approached the team regarding "job opportunities" in June 2007. Since the revelation of Coughlan's involvement in the affair McLaren provided a full set of drawings and development documents to the FIA, detailing all updates made to the team's chassis since the incident occurred at the end of April.

Stefan GP

Coughlan worked for Stefan Grand Prix in late 2009 when the Serbian team was trying to gain an entry into Formula One for the season.

Ocelot

Coughlan led the design of the composite body of the Ocelot armoured vehicle.

Michael Waltrip Racing

Coughlan was hired by Michael Waltrip Racing as director of vehicle design where he was responsible for overseeing all design, production, engineering and quality control programs. He left the team prior to the end of his contract to join the Williams Formula One. Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) sued Coughlan and the Williams F1 team in U.S. District Court in Charlotte. The complaint asserted that Coughlan breached his contract by leaving the team prior to the end of the contract and also asserted that Williams Formula One interfered with the contract by hiring Coughlan. The lawsuit alleged that Coughlan's departure impacted the team's performance, resulting in a loss of prize money and potential sponsorship. Michael Waltrip Racing, Couglan and the Williams F1 team reached a settlement, the terms of which were not disclosed, on 18 October 2011; the lawsuit was dismissed as part of that settlement.

Williams Formula One Team

On 3 May 2011 it was announced that Coughlan was hired by the

team as the chief engineer, in part replacing the then technical director

Sam Michael Samuel David Michael (born 29 April 1971) is an Australian motor sports engineer and designer, who held senior positions with Formula One constructors Williams and McLaren. He is currently employed by Supercar team Triple Eight Race Engineer ...

and chief aerodynamicist Jon Tomlinson. After the relative success of , Williams endured a difficult start to the season, failing to score a point with their FW35 before announcing, on 16 July that Coughlan had been replaced with immediate effect by

Pat Symonds Patrick Bruce Reith Symonds (born 11 June 1953) is a British motor racing engineer. He was the Chief Technical Officer at Williams Grand Prix Engineering, from 2013 until 2016 having previously worked at the Benetton, Renault and Virgin Formula ...

. Coughlan's period as chief engineer was dominated by a period of investigation into exhaust driven diffusers, that was described as "a disastrous technical foray".

Richard Childress Racing

On 9 November 2013 it was announced that Richard Childress Racing had hired Mike Coughlan as the team's new Technical Director, effective immediately. Coughlan was released by Richard Childress Racing in April 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coughlan, Mike Alumni of Brunel University London 1959 births Ferrari people Living people Formula One designers British motorsport people McLaren people Williams Grand Prix Engineering