Design ace Rinland signs for Arrows

Rinland, who has 20 years experience in the sport, left the Swiss-based team due to personal reasons before the start of the season after designing the Petronas-powered C20. His car, in the hands of Nick Heidfeld and Kimi Raikkonen, has since has put Sauber in the top four in the Formula 1 constructors' championship.

The Argentine had not been employed full-time since the split, and will join the design team alongside Mike Coughlan, the current Arrows designer. Coughlan has already laid down much of the design for next year's chassis, but team boss Tom Walkinshaw says Rinland has joined his team at a crucial point.

"We're very pleased to welcome Sergio to the OrangeArrows team", said Walkinshaw. "Next year's car, the A23, is at a critical stage so Sergio's input will help us to achieve our targets. We have a deal with Premier Performance Division and Cosworth next year which will give us the power we need to compete, and now we have a strengthened design team so we are doing everything we can to continue to improve our performance."

Rinland graduated from Argentina's University of the South with a degree in mechanical engineering. He began racing in the Seventies with the Chrysler Formula 2 team in his home country before moving to England in 1980. Appointed as chief designer for Pro Racing Services, he was successful in many of the lower formulae and, just three years on, designed his first F1 car at RAM Automotive.

Since then he has worked with many teams in F1 from 1986, including Williams, Dallara and Brabham. After Brabham's closure, he established his own design team Astauto working with Fondmetal F1 Team.

Rinland worked in the United States in 1994, where he designed the Eagle-Toyota Champ Car before returning to Europe to join Keke Rosberg's Opel team in the 1996 DTM series. Rinland was then appointed senior composite engineer at Benetton, where he stayed until 1999 when he became chief designer at Sauber.