More and more rumours are spreading that Volkswagen is returning to Formula 1, with a connection to Williams as an obvious one. Recently Jost Capito came over from VW to become CEO and team boss at Williams. In his wake also Sven Smeets is coming to Williams.

Lots of responsibilities

Sven Smeets was born in Hasselt (just like Max Verstappen) and is from Belgian Limburg. At Williams he will be working as a sporting director. He will be responsible for the sporting direction and representation of the team in all sporting matters related to the FIA, other teams and motorsport associations. The Belgian will also be responsible for the race team and will head up the Young Driver Academy, which currently includes Jack Aitken, Roy Nissany and Jamie Chadwick.

Smeets has been working in motorsport for quite some time. Previously, he was team manager of Volkswagen's World Rally Championship team. Since 2016, Smeets was director of motorsport at Volkswagen. So now he joins Williams, as part of the major restructuring the team is currently undergoing.

Unannounced

Smeets' arrival at Williams has been fairly quiet. He apparently already attended his first Grand Prix for the team in Qatar, but Williams never officially announced his transfer through a press release.