Chris Dyer (engineer)
{{short description|Australian motor racing engineer (born 1968)}}
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Chris Dyer (born 12 February 1968) is an Australian vehicle engineer. He is the former head of vehicle performance group at Renault Sport Formula 1 Team and the former race engineer of Michael Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen at Scuderia Ferrari.
Early career
Born in Bendigo, Victoria,{{Cite web |date=2003-03-09 |title=Schumacher's back seat driver |url=https://www.theage.com.au/sport/motorsport/schumachers-back-seat-driver-20030309-gdvcfp.html |access-date=2024-02-19 |website=The Age}} Dyer worked with the top V8 Supercar outfit, the Tom Walkinshaw owned Holden Racing Team in the mid-1990s alongside drivers like Peter Brock and Craig Lowndes. In 1997, he switched to Walkinshaw's Formula One team Arrows, working as Damon Hill's chief data engineer. In 1998, he stepped up to race engineering, working with drivers like Jos Verstappen.{{Cite web |date=2003 |title=Guiding the world champion |url=https://www.thescuderia.net/guidechamp.shtml |access-date=2024-02-19 |website=TheScuderia.net}}
Ferrari
For the 2001 season, Dyer moved to Ferrari, working as Schumacher's vehicle engineer, alongside Luca Baldisserri. By the end of 2002, Dyer engineered Schumacher at the tests; after the championship had been won, he also race engineered Schumacher at the last three races at Monza, Indianapolis, and Suzuka.[http://www.topgear.com/content/features/stories/2007/06/stories/15/1.html ...And kimi be so slow: retrieved 29 October 2008] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081109035229/http://www.topgear.com/content/features/stories/2007/06/stories/15/1.html |date=9 November 2008 }} Dyer then race engineered Schumacher to his 2003 and 2004 world titles, appearing with the German on the podium after his triumph at the 2003 Canadian Grand Prix.{{Cite web |last=Collings |first=Timothy |date=2003 |title=The Man Behind the Champion: Interview with Chris Dyer |url=https://www.atlasf1.com/2003/bri/collings.html |access-date=2024-02-19 |website=Atlas F1}}{{Cite web |date=2011-03-12 |title=2003 Canadian GP Sunday |url=https://www.autosport.com/general/news/2003-canadian-gp-sunday-4974754/4974754/ |access-date=2024-02-19 |website=Autosport}}{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Sam |date=2023-01-27 |title=Key Schumacher Ferrari F1 engineer gets McLaren electric role |url=https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/key-schumacher-ferrari-f1-engineer-gets-mclaren-electric-role/ |access-date=2024-02-19 |website=The Race}} Dyer was quoted saying: "One of Michael's strengths is that, apart from driving quickly, he has an understanding of the car and how all the systems work."
Dyer took over as Räikkönen's race engineer when the Finn moved to Ferrari in 2007. Despite suggestions that the pair did not always get the most from the package, Räikkönen took the title in 2007 at the final race by a single point over Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.{{Cite web |date=2007-10-21 |title=Raikkonen takes Brazilian GP and Championship! |url=https://www.grandprix.com/race/r785racenotes.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20071023060308/https://www.grandprix.com/race/r785racenotes.html |archive-date=2007-10-23 |access-date=2014-02-19 |website=GrandPrix.com}} After the disappointing results in the 2008 season, Ferrari announced that Dyer would be replaced by Andrea Stella for the 2009 season, with Dyer promoted to chief track engineer.{{Cite web |date=2016-02-04 |title=Former Ferrari chief engineer Chris Dyer joins Renault |url=https://www.motorsportweek.com/2016/02/04/11208/ |access-date=2024-02-19 |website=Motorsport Week |language=en-GB}}
On 4 January 2011, Ferrari announced that Dyer was replaced as head of race track engineering by former McLaren engineer Pat Fry. This decision was taken after Dyer made the call to bring Alonso in the pit lane to cover off the Australian Mark Webber's pit stop in the final race of the season, the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The decision was blamed for costing Alonso the title in favour of Sebastian Vettel who went on to become champion.{{cite web |author=Noble |first=Jonathan |date=2011-01-04 |title=Ferrari reshuffles engineering staff |url=http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88808 |access-date=2024-02-19 |website=Autosport}} In October 2012, it was announced that Dyer was to join BMW's Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) programme as chief engineer.{{Cite web |last=Fagnan |first=René |date=2012-10-16 |title=DTM: Former Ferrari engineer Chris Dyer to join BMW |url=https://www.auto123.com/en/racing-news/dtm-former-ferrari-engineer-chris-dyer-to-join-bmw?artid=148704 |access-date=2024-02-19 |website=Auto123}}
Renault
On 4 February 2016, it was announced by Renault Sport that Dyer would be returning to Formula One as their head of vehicle performance group.{{Cite web |date=2016-02-04 |title=Dyer Returns to F1 with Renault |url=https://www.eurosport.com/formula-1/dyer-returns-to-f1-with-renault_sto5108524/story.shtml |access-date=2024-02-19 |website=Eurosport}}{{Cite web |last=Carpentiers |first=Nicolas |date=2019-02-10 |title=Tech F1i: A visit to Renault at Enstone – The Operations Room |url=https://f1i.com/magazine/329274-tech-f1i-a-visit-to-renault-at-enstone-the-operations-room.html |access-date=2024-02-19 |website=F1i.com}}
Career
{{BLP unreferenced section|date=April 2025}}
- 1997: Arrows data engineer
- 1998–2000: Arrows race engineer
- 2001–2002: Scuderia Ferrari vehicle engineer
- 2003–2006: Scuderia Ferrari race engineer, Michael Schumacher
- 2007–2008: Scuderia Ferrari race engineer, Kimi Räikkönen
- 2009–2011: Scuderia Ferrari chief track engineer
- 2011–2012: Scuderia Ferrari team member
- 2012–2015: BMW DTM chief engineer
- 2016–2020: Renault Sport F1 Team, head of vehicle performance group
References
{{reflist}}
{{Arrows}}
{{Renault F1}}
{{Scuderia Ferrari}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyer, Chris}}
Category:Australian motorsport people