Neil Oatley (born 12 June 1954) is a design and development director in

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

teams. Born in Britain, Oatley graduated from

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when ...

in 1976 with an automotive engineering degree. He worked briefly outside motor racing before joining the Williams team in 1977. There he became one of many young engineers to have worked alongside Patrick Head early in their careers before moving on to other organisations. Oatley worked as a draughtsman before becoming a

race engineer A race engineer is a motorsport team member who analyses data to achieve the best performance from the vehicle and driver. The race engineer communicates with the team's data analyst, mechanics, and driver, both between and during races. Off the ...

for both Clay Regazzoni and

Carlos Reutemann Carlos Alberto "Lole" Reutemann (12 April 1942 – 7 July 2021) was an Argentine racing driver who raced in Formula One from to , and later became a politician in his native province of Santa Fe, for the Justicialist Party, and governor o ...

. In 1984 Oatley was recruited by Carl Haas to work on the FORCE F1 project, but the results were poor, and the team withdrew from Formula One in . Oatley joined the

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formu ...

team shortly after leaving FORCE and worked alongside

John Barnard John Edward Barnard (born 4 May 1946, Wembley, London) is an English engineer and racing car designer. Barnard is credited with the introduction of two new designs into Formula One: the carbon fibre composite chassis first seen in with McLar ...

in the design office. After Gordon Murray replaced Barnard as technical director, Oatley was put in charge of the design of the naturally aspirated car for 1989—

Steve Nichols Stephen Anderson Nichols (born 20 February 1947 in Salt Lake City, Utah) is an American engineer who is best known as a car designer for many Formula One teams from the mid-1980s until . Profile Nichols graduated from the University of Utah in ...

having been appointed chief designer of the 1988 chassis—and remained chief designer after Murray moved to the new McLaren road car project. His cars secured titles in , , , and . Oatley continued to work as chief designer at McLaren until 2003, when he became executive director of engineering.

References

Profile at grandprix.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oatley, Neil Alumni of Loughborough University Formula One designers 1954 births Living people McLaren people English motorsport people Williams Grand Prix Engineering