Mike Gascoyne, Team Lotus technical director, says he will ‘certainly’ retire at the Tony Fernandes owned team which debuted on-track last year.
The former McLaren, Tyrell, Sauber, Jordan, Benetton, Renault, Toyota, Spyker and Force India employee has been involved in motorsport since 1989 but says the Norfolk outfit will be his last.
Having moved from team to team, he has often been seen as the ‘go-to-guy’ for when a team is starting out and needs a boost up the grid, but Gascoyne says Team Lotus is different as he feels like he belongs with them having been with them since their inception.
“It is different now,” he told the New York Times. “In those jobs you are always sort of the hired gun. I always used to describe it as the border town that gets the sheriff to come in and clean out the outlaws. And once they have got rid of all the outlaws you don’t need him anymore and he moves on to the next sort of lawless town, and that has sort of been my career.”
He continued: “I think now there is much more of a sense of belonging and it being my team. I certainly will retire at this team.
“Now it is a sense of belonging and wanting to take the team all the way. I think for me it will be a tremendous sense of satisfaction to have taken the team from one bloke sitting on his own in an office to the winner’s podium.”
