Mike Gascoyne promoted to chief technical officer of the entire Caterham Group

Gascoyne, who joined the team before it made its Formula 1 debut in 2010, will now be responsible for proposing, supporting and coordinating technical initiatives in Caterham Group's F1 and GP2 team as well as Caterham Cars, Caterham Composites and Caterham Technology & Innovation.

Smith, who as the team's technical director, takes over the day-to-day control of the technical side of the F1 team. He will increase his presence at races in 2012.

The team said Gascoyne will also continue to attend grands prix this year.

"This is a very proud moment for me," said Gascoyne. "My new role will now give me the chance to help drive value across the whole group through the creation and delivery of new projects in all the sectors we are already working in, and opening up new opportunities for each of the Group's companies to embrace.

"Mark Smith is exactly the right person to step up to the broader role he will now be taking on in the F1 team, and I am looking forward to working even more closely with Mark Edwards at Caterham Technology & Innovation, Phil Hall at Caterham Composites and Ansar Ali at Caterham Cars.

"This is a big challenge but one I am extremely excited about and I want to thank our shareholders for this opportunity."

Tony Fernandes, Caterham Group Chairman added: "We are all delighted that Mike has taken up the challenge we have presented him, to lead technical direction across the whole Caterham Group.

"His experience, knowledge, enthusiasm and creativity give him the perfect skill set to help us achieve the ambitious goals we have set for all the group companies, and I know Mike is excited about what lies ahead."