Williams F1

After studying Mechanical Engineering at Brunel University, Mike Coughlan’s first job in motor racing came in 1981 with Tiga Cars, who were involved in various junior formulas.

In 1984 he joined the Lotus F1 team and became part of the design group behind their 1985 championship entry, the Lotus-Renault 97T in which Ayrton Senna won his first grand prix. The Lotus-Renault 98T followed in which Senna won two races in 1986 and then two more in 1987 in the Lotus-Renault 99T.

At the end of 1990, Mike briefly joined Benetton’s Advanced Research Group as Chief Designer of the B191, before moving to Tyrrell to co-design the Ilmor-powered Tyrrell 020B.

In 1992 he joined Ferrari’s Design and Development operation as Head of R&D, before moving to Arrows in the summer of ’97 to work as Deputy Technical Director. He was promoted to Technical Director in ’99 and led the design team until ’02, when he was asked to join the McLaren Formula One team and worked as Chief Designer for the team between 2002 and 2007.

Mike had a brief stint working for Stefan Grand Prix in late 2009 while the Serbian team tried to put together an entry for Formula One and in the same year he moved to America to help design the Ocelot tactical vehicle for Force Protection.

Mike was then appointed Director of Vehicle Design for NASCAR team Michael Waltrip Racing, before joining Williams F1 as Chief Engineer in June 2011. He was appointed Technical Director of Williams F1 in October of the same year.

•    Nationality: British
•    Born: 17th February 1959
•    Job description: Technical Director

Career Highlights
2011             Chief Engineer, Williams F1, then appointed Technical Director
2010             Design office, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
2009-10       Chief Engineer, Force Protection Europe
2008-09       Chief Engineer, Ricardo Special Vehicles
2002-08       Chief Designer, McLaren Mercedes
1998-2002   Chief Designer, Arrows Grand Prix
1992-97       Chief Engineer, Ferrari Design and Development
1991             Engineer, Tyrell   
1990             Chief Engineer, Benetton
1984-89        Engineer, Lotus
1981-83        Junior Draughtsman, Tiga Cars