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Korea to be Michael's last race

ESPNF1 Staff
July 26, 2011 « Job wasn't at risk - Whitmarsh | »
Sam Michael's travelling role will end after the Korean Grand Prix © Sutton Images
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Williams technical director Sam Michael will stop travelling to grands prix following the race in Korea in October as part of the Williams restructuring.

Following a disappointing start to the season Michael resigned from his position to allow a new technical structure to be created, with the resignation coming in to effect at the end of the season. With Mike Coughlan appointed as new chief engineer, and later joined by Jason Somerville and Mark Gillan in the technical team, Michael said he is preparing to hand over the responsibilities as part of the changes.

"Most technical directors travel to races, but the structure that Williams is going for is not having a travelling technical director," Michael is quoted by Autosport. "There will be a chief operations engineer in Mark Gillan, so he is going to come to Japan and Korea, and be in the background to see how I operate for those two races. Then he will take over from there."

Despite the move Michael's contract runs until March 1 2012, and he admitted he is unsure what will happen following the handover.

"I definitely won't be at the races, but what is going to happen at the factory I don't know," he said.

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