Renault have made no bones about the fact that they returned to F1 in 2016 with the aim of becoming a front-running team again. And now, the Anglo-French squad have taken a step further towards their intended goal, signing current Mercedes man Matthew Harman as their new Deputy Chief Designer.

Harman will join the Enstone-based squad from September 1 2018, before which he'll leave his role as Mercedes' Head of Powertrain Integration and Transmission Design to work alongside Renault’s Chief Designer Martin Tolliday and under the team’s Chief Technical Officer Bob Bell.

A major part of Harman’s role will be making sure that the design cycle for Renault’s future cars begins well in advance, something which could play a key factor in the team’s future success as Formula 1 gets ready for a new rule shake-up in 2021.