James Key

Formula 1 employee

Vital statistics for James Key
Nationality	GBR
Position	Technical director
Team	Scuderia Toro Rosso

James Key has spent the latter part of his F1 career as Technical Director through several iterations of the team that would become Force India, and then again at Sauber. In late 2012, it was confirmed that he would take up the same role at Toro Rosso, where he has been since – pushing the team to improve their midfield performance.

Biography

James Key joined Formula One with the colourful Jordan Grand Prix outfit, working his way up through the ranks. Starting out as a data engineer, he went on to coach Takuma Sato through some races from the pit wall, before heading back to the factory. Working on various aspects, such as wind tunnel calibration and data collection, as well as vehicle dynamics, he eventually became a departmental head.

In 2005, the team transitioned to MF1 Racing and Key was handed a promotion to become Technical Director. As one of the youngest directors in the pit lane at the time, Key continued in the position despite various ownership changes, through Spyker F1 and the current Force India.

Key left the Force India team early in 2010, replacing Technical Director Willy Rampf at Sauber. He helped guide the Swiss team through their transition from a BMW works team to the privately owned Sauber venture once more.

After nearly two years, in February 2012, it was confirmed that Key would be leaving, and by the end of the same year he had joined Toro Rosso as Technical Director. At the time, the team aimed to take a step forward although Key’s influence wasn’t felt on the car until 2013. At the end of the season, Toro Rosso finished in eighth place in the constructor standings, with seven more points over their 2012 campaign.

Filed under Formula 1 employees

Date	Title
31/01/2015	Toro Rosso reveal sharp front end on new STR10
09/10/2013	Race information - Japan 2013
04/09/2013	Race information - Italy 2013
21/08/2013	Race information - Belgium 2013
19/09/2012	Singapore 2012 - Race information
05/10/2011	Japan 2011 - Race information
22/06/2011	Europe 2011 - Race information
13/04/2011	China 2011 - Race information
31/01/2011	The Sauber C30 is revealed at Valencia
26/01/2011	Are Force India slowly coming apart at the seams?

Date	Title
11/03/2017	Put to the test

Related news

Date	Title
31/01/2015	Toro Rosso chief James Key not keen on new STR10 nose
05/09/2012	Toro Rosso announce split with Giorgio Ascanelli
03/02/2012	Sauber confirm departure of technical lead James Key
21/10/2011	Sauber confirm return of aerodynamicist Willem Toet
05/09/2011	F1 teams unsure about DRS effect in Monza
12/08/2011	Teams and drivers think positive for the rest of the 2011 season
30/03/2011	Sauber decide against Australia disqualification appeal
24/02/2010	US F1 inspected by the FIA

Mentions during live coverage

Date	Update
26/02/2017	Technical director, James Key: "With driver continuity and a power unit which made a major step forward last year, and which should be developing strongly this year, it just leaves the chassis as an unknown quantity. We always set ourselves ambitious targets and this year, we are taking a more long-term view over the 20 races, with a long list of planned in-season developments. I suspect it will be a very busy year with plenty of performance still to be found."
26/02/2015	Toro Rosso have revised their car significantly for this final test. Technical Director James Key admits they've almost brought a brand new machine: "The car itself is radically different here, so we have to start again. It's almost completely brand new - aero, cooling, suspension and the nose is new. It's a Williams direction. We always knew this was the way to go."
21/08/2014	Sauber have had a really bad season so far in 2014, with zero points on the board from eleven races. Former technical director James Key (now at Toro Rosso) believes the team have what it takes to turn things around but he's not sure where they need to start."I left about three months before the initial project was started to understand how the regulations would work, so what happened after that I honestly don't know. They do seem to have had some struggles and have also had reliability issues as well, which probably hasn't helped. I think it shows how difficult it is, to be honest."
27/01/2014	Chief Designer, Luca Furbatto, talked up his colleague's work on the new car: "When James Key arrived in late 2012, he focused mainly on the 2014 car in terms of planning, simulation targets and internal resourcing whilst we were still designing the STR8. To his credit we were able to perform the first STR9 wind tunnel test shortly before Christmas 2012, much earlier than previous Toro Rosso projects."
27/01/2014	Technical Director, James Key, has offered up some thoughts on the evolution of the car: "The installation of the power unit is in itself a big challenge, dealing with the cooling circuits and other related elements, but the chassis and bodywork regulations have gone through quite a big change as well and the cars look quite different this year in some areas. So a big part of the chassis development has involved redeveloping the aerodynamic philosophies in line with the new regulations and getting them to work with all the other challenges that come along for 2014."