Feb.23 (GMM) Legendary Ferrari designer Rory Byrne has returned to Maranello to be Simone Resta’s mentor.
South African Byrne, 71, was a key member of the Ferrari ‘dream team’ of last decade, when along with Jean Todt, Ross Brawn and Michael Schumacher, they utterly dominated the sport.
More recently, he had retired to Thailand, but Byrne can now be found once again in the corridors of Maranello.
His new role is supporting Simone Resta, Ferrari’s new designer in the wake of the personnel shakeup that saw the likes of Nikolas Tombazis, Pat Fry and others all depart.
“Simone is from the school of Aldo Costa, who I respect a lot,” said Ferrari’s new team boss Maurizio Arrivabene, referring to the former Ferrari technical boss who now designs title-winning cars for Mercedes.
“And his (Resta’s) guru is Rory Byrne,” Arrivabene is quoted by Brazil’s Globo.
He insists that Byrne’s enthusiasm for F1 has been re-fired as the fabled marque now bids to end its period of turmoil and slump.
“I talked personally with Rory and asked if he would like to get more involved with the project,” Arrivabene revealed.
“To see a man of his (Byrne’s) past achievements, his age, eating fast in a restaurant and barely talking because he has a meeting at the factory, really impressed me,” he added.