Simon Rennie
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Simon Rennie (born 29 April 1980) is an English motor racing engineer. He currently is the Group Leader of Simulation Engineering at Red Bull Racing.


Career

Rennie was born in
Northallerton, North Yorkshire Northallerton ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Mowbray and at the northern end of the Vale of York. It had a population of 16,832 in the 2011 census, an increase ...
, and began working for the Renault F1 Team in . saw him acting as the Data Engineer for the winner of the
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
World Driver's Championship, Spanish driver
Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Alpine in Formula One. He won the series' World Drivers' Championship in and with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Mi ...
. Alonso and Renault retained the titles they won in 2005 in the season. For the season Rennie was placed in the same role, this time with Finnish driver
Heikki Kovalainen Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (; born 19 October 1981) is a Finnish racing driver competing in the Japan Rally Championship for Rally Team AICELLO. He raced in Formula One between 2007 and 2013 for the Renault, McLaren, Team Lotus, Caterham and ...
, who arrived at Renault after the departure of Alonso. In , Rennie remained as a data engineer at Renault. He worked alongside the returning Alonso, who came back to the team after placing 2nd at
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 ...
. Alonso and Renault won back-to-back victories in the now infamous Singapore race and in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
two weeks later. The
2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
season, saw Rennie promoted to race engineer to Fernando Alonso. The team failed to reach the race winning success of the previous year. Renault's year was dominated by the
Crashgate The Renault Formula One crash controversy, dubbed Crashgate by some in the media, was a sporting scandal caused when Renault F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crashed during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to give a sporting advantage to h ...
scandal, where they were accused, and found guilty, of fixing the race in Singapore the previous season. For the second successive season, he remained in his position in the Renault F1 team for the 2010 season, who had been going through major changes in leadership, personnel and sponsorship. He acted as the race engineer for Polish driver Robert Kubica. Rennie would have acted as race engineer to Kubica in the Formula One season, for the newly renamed Renault team, Lotus Renault F1, had it not been for a Rallying incident in Italy, one month before the season opener in Bahrain, which resulted in Kubica being sidelined with multiple fractures and a partially severed right hand. Rennie was race engineer to German driver Nick Heidfeld, who was acting as the replacement for Kubica during his recovery, for the 2011 season. During , he was one of two race engineers for
Kimi Räikkönen Kimi-Matias Räikkönen (; born 17 October 1979), nicknamed "The Iceman", is a Finnish racing driver who competed in Formula One between 2001 and 2021 for Sauber, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, and Alfa Romeo. Räikkönen won the 2007 Formula One Wo ...
. The other of Räikkönen's engineers was
Mark Slade Mark Van Blarcom Slade (born May 1, 1939) is an American actor, artist, and author, particularly remembered for his role of Billy Blue Cannon on the NBC Western television series, ''The High Chaparral''.Terrace, Vincent (2011). ''Encyclopedia of ...
. During the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Rennie told Räikkönen on the team radio about the advantage Räikkönen had over second-placed Fernando Alonso in the
Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
and he would keep him updated on the Spaniard's pace. The Finn responded on the radio by saying "Leave me alone, I know what to do". The message has received wide media coverage and was well received by the fans. Lotus team principal
Eric Boullier The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...
said the message "has become a Formula One classic". For the season Rennie joined the defending Drivers' and Constructor's champions Red Bull Racing to replace Mark Webber's long time race engineer Ciaron Pilbeam while Pilbeam took over as chief engineer for Räikkönen at Lotus for 2013, their roles effectively replacing each other. After Webber's retirement, Rennie went on to work with Daniel Ricciardo in 2014. In 2019, Rennie moved to a factory role within the Red Bull team, considered to be a factor in Ricciardo's departure from the team that year. He was replaced as race engineer by Mike Lugg. In 2020, Rennie returned to trackside action at Red Bull to become
Alexander Albon Alexander Albon Ansusinha ( th, อเล็กซานเดอร์ อัลบอน อังศุสิงห์; , , born 23 March 1996) is a Thai-British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Williams Racing, under th ...
's race engineer, replacing Lugg. Lugg was replaced on Albon's demand because he wanted "a more experienced engineer". In 2021, Rennie stepped aside as Race Engineer, with Hugh Bird taking over as Race Engineer for Albon's replacement Sergio Pérez.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rennie, Simon Formula One engineers Living people 1980 births Red Bull Racing