There was all change at the Renault Group today as Jérôme Stoll took over from Jean-Michel Jalinier as President of Renault Sport F1.
Stoll moves into his new role in the wake of poor performances by the Renault power unit, despite a victory for Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in Canada last month.
As well as his new position, Stoll will maintain his current responsibilities as Renault Sport F1’s Chief Performance Officer and Group Sales & Marketing Director.
Born in 1954, Stoll originally joined Renault in 1980 and has operated in numerous financial and administrative positions until 2000, when he became President and CEO of what was then Renault Samsung Motors.
By the middle of the next decade, Stoll had been promoted to the position of Mercosur Director and was appointed as Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing & Light Commercial Vehicles, before his last graduation in 2013.
Meanwhile, Cyril Abiteboul – a refugee of Caterham F1’s takeover – returns to Renault Sport F1 as Managing Director. Abiteboul previously acted as Development Director of Renault F1, later becoming Executive Director, before beginning a stint with Caterham almost two years ago.
Jalinier, who replaced Bernard Rey at the end of 2011, has been with the French manufacturer in various positions for almost three decades, occupying a number of management positions – particularly in Russia and Brazil – before taking on his occupation as Managing Director.
Jalinier has decided to take early retirement for personal reasons.
Mercedes have dominated much of this year’s F1 campaign, with the German squad having having secured seven of the eight Grand Prix that have taken place thus far.
Ricciardo’s Canadian success, while a welcome one, largely came due to an ounce of luck, propelled by technical failures in both factory Mercedes machines.
