Horner says Willis perfect for Red Bull

Willis, who was dismissed from Honda last summer, will begin his new job on Monday and will be tasked with forming a strong partnership with chief technical officer Adrian Newey.

The pair previously worked together at both Leyton House in the late 1980s and at Williams when the team dominated Formula One during the mid-1990s.

Speaking to autosport.com in the Nurburgring paddock, Horner said: "It has become apparent to us during the past few months that as the technical group has grown we needed to bring in a person with the capacity to take on a bigger remit than was currently in place for our technical director.

"Someone to really perform the role of a technical manager and oversee the whole design process.

"Geoff was an obvious candidate for several reasons. One, because the role he performed at BAR where he had gone to a team in complete disarray, pulled them together and took them to being an outfit that could finish second in the world championship.

"Secondly, he has an intimate knowledge of how Adrian works and operates, and what his expectations and requirements are having worked with him at Williams and at Leyton House. It came together very quickly and there was a desire on both sides to make it happen."

Since being fired by Honda, Willis has been contractually forced to remain on 'gardening leave' before being allowed to return to F1 with another team. That period came to an end very recently.

His appointment has cast doubt on the future of Mark Smith, who previously held the role of technical director at Red Bull. But Horner reiterated that he hopes Smith will remain with the team in a different role

"Mark is a very talented design engineer," he said. "We are currently in discussions with Mark about a different role playing to his particular strengths. We'll sit down next week and discuss that.

"I'm hopeful that he will stay, as long as it's in a role that he feels he is making a contribution. He is a very balanced individual and the team is a stronger place having him in it."