Aldo Costa | |
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Born | 5 June 1961 |
Nationality | Italian |
Alma mater | University of Bologna - Mechanical Engineering |
Occupation | Formula One Engineering Director |
Employer | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team |
Known for | Engineering Director of Mercedes F1 W05 Hybrid & Mercedes F1 W06 Hybrid |
Predecessor | Bob Bell |
Aldo Costa (born 5 June 1961) is an Italian engineer and the Engineering Director of the Mercedes Formula One team.
Costa was born in Parma. After school, he continued studying and graduated from the University of Bologna in mechanical engineering.
Costa started his F1 career as the chief designer for Minardi in 1988 and became the technical director in 1989 after Giacomo Caliri, ex-technical director of the team, left. Costa joined the Scuderia Ferrari in 1995 and in 1998 became assistant to the team's Chief Designer, Rory Byrne. When Byrne announced his intention to retire in 2004, Costa was named as his successor. Byrne credited the design of the 2005 Ferrari to Costa.
Before the 2006 season, Costa was promoted to be the Head of Design and Development at Ferrari, as the team announced Nicholas Tombazis as their new Chief Designer. On 12 November 2007 Ferrari announced that Costa would take on the role of technical director. In May 2011, Ferrari announced that Costa had relinquished his position as technical director to take on new responsibilities within the company. Pat Fry took over the role of Chief Designer at Scuderia Ferrari.
On 20 July 2011, it was announced that Costa would leave Ferrari by mutual agreement. On 30 September 2011 news surfaced that he would be joining Mercedes as Engineering Director of the team. Costa led the design of the 2013 Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 W04 car under technical director Bob Bell.
In 2014, 2015 and 2016, he was the designer/engineering director for Mercedes F1 W05 Hybrid, Mercedes F1 W06 Hybrid and Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid.