Aston Martin F1 signs Alfa Romeo’s chief designer

Aston Martin announced the signing of Alfa Romeo’s chief designer Luca Furbatto on Thursday.

Furbatto, who will assume the role of Engineering Director, is expected to join the Silverstone-based team before the 2022 season.

Andrew Green, Aston Martin Technical Director, will become Chief Technical Officer effective immediately.

Sebastian Vettel on the track in the Aston Martin. Clive Mason – Formula 1 / Formula 1 via Getty Images

Furbatto previously worked for McLaren and Toro Rosso owned by Red Bull, now AlphaTauri, for more than two decades.

“This is the first of many important appointments that we are making in line with our drive to establish Aston Martin at the top of the grid,” Green said in a statement at the French Grand Prix.

Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer said the team is expected to hire around 250 people before moving to a new factory in 2022.

“We have about 535 employees now and we’re going to be about 800 or whatever the right size below the cost cap and we’re working on it strategically,” he told www.formula1.com.

The team entered as Racing Point last year after taking over the assets of the now-defunct Force India, which went under management in 2018, and changed its name to Aston Martin for 2021.