October’s Korean Grand Prix will be Sam Michael’s last as technical director of the Williams team.
Michael’s resignation was announced earlier in the season following a disastrous start to the Grove based squad’s 2011 campaign.
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While the team’s engineering restructure has included the recruitment of former McLaren ‘spy scandal’ conspirator Mike Coughlan, Michael told Autosport that he will not have a direct replacement at race tracks.
“Most technical directors travel to races, but the structure that Williams is going for is not having a travelling technical director,” said Michael.
“There will be a chief operations engineer in Mark Gillan, so he is going to come to Japan and Korea, and be in the background to see how I operate for those two races. Then he will take over from there.”
Under contract until March 1, Michael could not confirm whether he will continue working at the Williams factory after the Korean Grand Prix.
The 40-year-old has been linked to Force India, Mercedes and Ferrari, but says he has not accepted any offers at this stage.
In other Williams news, its drivers Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado will both race with KERS this weekend in Hungary after the Brazilian ran without the technology in Germany.
The FW33s have struggled with high tyre degradation while running the system.
Barrichello and Maldonado currently sit 16th and 21st in the World Drivers’ Championship respectively, with the Venezuelan rookie having yet to score a point.
