Williams sign former Ferrari tire performance head

LONDON (Reuters) – Williams have recruited former Ferrari tire performance head Antonio Spagnolo to help analyze their Formula One rivals’ strengths.

Spagnolo, who joined the Italian team in 2005 and left in February, also worked with 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen and double world champion Fernando Alonso as an engineer.

He will link up again with Williams’ head of performance engineering Rob Smedley, who worked at Ferrari for a decade until 2014.

“Antonio will concentrate on understanding our competitors’ strengths and identifying areas of our performance which require prioritization of resources,” Williams said in a statement.

The Mercedes-powered team are fourth in the championship, with Ferrari, who have under-performed this season, third.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond)