Engine guru His leaves Renault

His, 56, had been somewhat sidelined in the pecking order at Renault when its former engine wizard Bernard Dudot returned to the fold in February. He has now decided on a "career change" and will leave his role as director of development at the Viry-Chatillon engine division on May 31.

The Frenchman has been a part of Renault's activities for almost 20 years, which encompassed Renault's six Formula 1 world championship titles. In recent times, however, Renault's engines have come under criticism for lacking power compared to its rivals.

In January, His told AUTOSPORT: "The new engine is still behind on power and we have lacked power for the last few years, but we have improved at the same pace as the other engine manufacturers. This showed that our choice of wide vee was capable of improvements. Our challenge now is to improve faster than our rivals."

Since then Renault has made giant leaps, with Fernando Alonso's pole position in Malaysia and runner-up spot in Spain at the weekend. Despite these improvements, His has decided the time has come to leave the company.