Williams has revealed that Mike Coughlan, who controversially joined the Grove outfit earlier this year as Chief Engineer, has been promoted to the role of Technical Director.

Coughlan's original appointment was officially confirmed in May, just twenty-nine minutes after Williams revealed that Sam Michael and Jon Tomlinson had resigned their posts, the Australian subsequently joining McLaren.

Coughlan's appointment raised eyebrows because he had previously been banned from motorsport for two years for his role in the notorious Spygate scandal - it was he who, whilst working for McLaren, received thousands of documents from Nigel Stepney at Ferrari and who was only caught when a sharp-eyed fan in a photocopying shop noticed the prancing horse logo on the many thousands of documents the Woking employee was having copied.

Speaking at the Buddh circuit, Williams chairman Adam Parr revealed the move: "The new technical team consists of Mike Coughlan, who we have just confirmed as our new technical director, the head of aerodynamics Jason Somerville and Mark Gillan who is our chief operations engineer," he told reporters. "I think they have already had quite an impact on the team in the factory."