by Edward Qualtrough

Force India hires Chief Information Technologist from Caterham F1

News
Aug 19, 20142 mins
CareersManufacturing Industry

Force India has appointed seasoned automotive and Formula One IT executive Bill Peters as its Chief Information Technologist, with Peters moving from F1 rivals Caterham.

Peters has previously worked as Head of IT at Caterham’s earlier incarnation Team Lotus for two years, and was Head of IT at McLaren Automotive for a decade as well as being Head of IS at McLaren Group.

While Caterham has struggled on the grid this season and is still yet to pick up a point in the Constructors’ Championship, Force India drivers Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg have helped the Silverstone-based team to fifth in the team standings after 11 races, with Perez’s podium in Bahrain in April setting Force India up to surpass its 2012 tally and have its best season since it was formed in 2008.

As the Head of Group IT at Caterham, Peters oversaw both the Formula One team and the technology estate of the Caterham Group including Caterham Technology and Innovation, Caterham Composites and Caterham Cars.

In June 2013 Peters spoke toCIO UK on a tour of Caterham’s Leafield base in Oxfordshire about connectivity at the manufacturing facility, increasing the compute power of the team’s HPC capabilities, and unifying all aspects of factory and trackside communications.

Peters, who was praised last year by Caterham’s commercial manager Richard St Clair-Quentin as a crucial part of moving the team’s operations 350 miles west from Norfolk to the “derelict archaeological site” in Leafield in August 2012, was described by Caterham Group’s Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne as “a real asset to any company and one of the great guys that made a new F1 team happen”.

Top image courtesy of www.saharaforceindia.com.