F1: Renault regains chief engineer from McLaren

Renault has announced Ciaron Pilbeam will rejoin the team from McLaren to take on the role of chief race engineer.

Pilbeam originally joined Renault – then called Lotus – as chief race engineer in 2013 following a long spell as race engineer to Mark Webber at Red Bull. However, the Briton left Enstone after just one year in the role amid financial uncertainty at the team, taking up the same position at McLaren. After three years at Woking it has been confirmed Pilbeam will return to Renault, with managing director Cyril Abiteboul saying it is part of the recruitment drive at the team's UK base.

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"2016 was always about laying the foundations for the future as we are committed to Formula 1 for the long haul," Abiteboul said. "Our 2016 car, the R.S.16, was conceived in an unbelievably short time frame – literally a couple of weeks – so our focus for this year has been on expansion of head count and infrastructure and looking to next year and beyond.

"Expansion is not the work of a moment, so we've been recruiting people through the year and they have been joining us throughout the season. It's definitely a case of targeting a quality workforce to come join us, but we do require a significant quantity of personnel in Enstone as we grow at a level allowing us to fight against the top teams.

"As part of this I'm happy to confirm that we have two appointments to Enstone's senior management with Rob White transferring from Viry-Chatillon as Operations Director and Ciaron Pilbeam returning to us as Chief Race Engineer."

White has been part of the Renault set-up since 2004, moving to the French manufacturer's Viry-Chatillon base a year later. Abiteboul explained White's return to the factory in the UK comes as Renault expands the race team's headquarters, having only taken over Lotus a year ago.

"In terms of facilities, we are significantly increasing our on-site CNC machining capacity with two new machines in a dedicated building, a new spray and preparation facility is currently being built and we will shortly start extending our main factory building by approximately [8,600 square feet] to to house the expansion of almost every department at Enstone."

Renault will field a driver line-up of Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer next season, with Hulkenberg replacing the Haas-bound Kevin Magnussen.