Honda appoint Nakamoto as tech chief

Autosport.com revealed last week that current technical director Geoff Willis was being freed up from his duties at the track to concentrate on aerodynamic developments at the outfit's Brackley wind-tunnel.

Some of his duties at events are to be taken over by Jacky Eeckelaert.

This came after a disappointing start to the campaign and the pressure to make changes increased after a disastrous British Grand Prix, where Jenson Button failed to make it past the first qualifying knockout stage and retired from the race early on.

Although Nakamoto denied at Silverstone that he was going to take on more responsibilities, the team have now rubber-stamped his promotion from engineering director of Honda Racing Development to senior technical director.

Team boss Nick Fry said: "Honda has set itself some very tough targets for its Formula One team and made a considerable investment in order to achieve them, so we have to ensure that we do everything necessary to pursue those objectives.

"Shuhei Nakamoto has an excellent record of achievement with Honda and we have confidence that his appointment, together with our investments at the Brackley HQ, will help us towards our goal."

Nakamoto recently returned to Japan to meet with Honda's chiefs to discuss the plight of the Formula One team, and admitted that there was big pressure on them to make improvements.

He told autosport.com: "There is lots and lots of pressure. Of course they are not happy. In fact, they are very angry because of this year's results. We have needed to show them what we are planning to do."

The future of Willis with the team is unsure. A statement issued by the team said: "Discussions are currently taking place with Geoff Willis, Technical Director, regarding his future role with the team."