Paul Crooks is a former

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

engineer. Crooks began his career as an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in ...

aeronautical engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

when he was 17 at the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...

based in Farnborough. He spent five years there before joining

RAE Rae may refer to: People *Rae (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Rae (surname), including a list of people with the surname Nicknames for *Rachel (given name) * Rachelle * Raquel * Raven (given name) * Reema *Reena ( ...

at the age of 22. For the next five years he worked as a detail designer on aerospace projects, working alongside

Frank Coppuck Frank Coppuck is a British engineer and racing car designer, who helped design the Pacific PR01 and PR02 Formula One cars. A nephew of Formula One engineer Gordon Coppuck. After graduating from Kingston Polytechnic with a Bachelor of Science ...

. From there, he got a job with Toleman Group Motorsport (later

Benetton Formula Benetton Formula Limited., commonly referred to simply as Benetton, was a Formula One constructor that participated from to . The team was owned by the Benetton family who run a worldwide chain of clothing stores. In 2000, the team was purcha ...

, then

Renault F1 Renault, a French automobile manufacturer, has been associated with Formula One as both team owner and engine manufacturer for various periods since 1977. In 1977, the company entered Formula One as a constructor, introducing the turbo engine ...

) as a detail designer. He worked under

Rory Byrne Rory Byrne (born 10 January 1944) is a South African semi-retired engineer and car designer, most famous for being the chief designer at the Benetton and Scuderia Ferrari teams of Formula One. Byrne-designed cars have won ninety-nine Grands P ...

for the next six years, before moving up to chief composite design engineer in 1983. In 1993, Crooks became

Ligier Ligier () is a French automobile and minibus maker created by former racing driver and rugby player Guy Ligier (1930–2015), specialized in the manufacturing of microcars. Ligier is best known for its involvement in the Formula 1 World Cham ...

's chief designer under

Frank Dernie Frank William Dernie (born 3 April 1950) is a British Formula One engineer. Dernie is credited with inventing active suspension, being the first engineer to use computer aided design, the first engineer to put a data logger on a formula one car ...

, but with the arrest of team boss Cyril de Rouvre, which sent the team into decline, Crooks joined

Simtek Simtek (Simulation Technology) was an engineering consultancy firm and Formula One racing team. The Formula One (F1) engineering consultancy arm, Simtek Research, was founded in 1989 by Max Mosley and Nick Wirth. It originally was involved i ...

. While with Simtek, he designed both the S941 and S951. He stayed with them until the team left

in the middle of

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

. He went back to Ligier, before joining

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

. He later went to

BAR Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

and

Minardi Minardi was an Italian automobile racing team and constructor founded in Faenza in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a loyal following ...

. Crooks later worked for Wirth Research, who designed the Acura ARX-01a, ARX-01b and ARX-02a.

External links

Profile on GrandPrix.com
Year of birth missing (living people) Formula One designers British motorsport people Living people {{F1-bio-stub