Williams hires ex-Ferrari F1 tire chief Antonio Spagnolo - MotorSportsTalk

Williams has confirmed the signing of ex-Ferrari Formula 1 tire chief Antonio Spagnolo as it moves to bolster its engineering team.

Spagnolo spent over 10 years with Ferrari in a variety of roles, working as Kimi Raikkonen’s race engineer and Fernando Alonso’s performance engineer before becoming head of tire performance group in 2015.

Spagnolo left Ferrari in February, and will now make the move to Williams in the role of competitor analysis and performance concept team leader.

“In this role, which is focussed on augmenting car performance, Antonio will concentrate on understanding our competitors’ strengths and identifying areas of our performance which require prioritisation of resources,” a statement from Williams reads.

“Naturally, in view of his previous role at Ferrari, his considerable experience will be brought to bear in guiding our restructured Tire Performance Group to better understand and exploit both theoretical and practical aspects of tire performance.”

“Williams is determined to continue the positive momentum it has had since 2014 and, with new additions to the team, hopes to become even stronger,” Williams chief technical officer Pat Symonds said.

“We are constantly seeing ways to improve our performance and trackside operations and believe Antonio will make a valuable contribution to this process.

“As a team, we will do our utmost to achieve our on-track ambitions and secure strong positions in the constructors’ championship this season, and beyond.”

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An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”