Bob Bell will depart his role as Technical Director of the Mercedes F1 team at the end of the season.
Bell, who has held the position since April 2011, tendered his resignation in December of last year and is set to leave the Brackley-based outfit at the end of November, with the ambition of “pursuing new challenges.”
Mercedes’ statement read: “Bob resigned his position in December 2013 and will leave the team at the end of November 2014, with the intention of pursuing new challenges outside the company.”
The team added that Bell would not be replaced as “moving forward, the team will streamline its technical organisation and Executive Director (Technical) Paddy Lower will assume the responsibilities previously held by Bob.”
Bell began his F1 career with McLaren in 1982, and enjoyed stints at Benetton and Jordan before moving to Renault, and rose to the position of technical director in 2004. He played a key role in Fernando Alonso’s drivers’ titles in 2005 and 2006 and was acting principal for the remainder of the 2009 season after the fallout of Nelson Piquet’s crash at the Singapore Grand Prix the previous season.