Franchise Notes: Mercedes F1 Announces Technical Staff Shuffle

Mercedes Formula 1 Engineering Dir Aldo Costa will "step back and move into a consultancy role" from the start of '19 as part of a "shake up of the team's technical structure." Costa originally joined Mercedes in '11 after a "lengthy spell" at Ferrari. Ahead of his shift to a technical advisory role, Chief Designer John Owen will "step up" to head the engineering group and report to Technical Dir James Allison. Furthermore, Performance Dir Mark Ellis decided to retire from his current position and "will begin a sabbatical from the middle of next year" (MOTORSPORT, 7/12).

London Pulse will play in the Netball Superleague in '19 after Team Northumbria withdrew from the league. The Pulse will play all its games at the Copper Box Arena in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Team Northumbria Franchise Dir Sue Vout said that it was "sad" to quit the competition but the team would "work to keep developing the game in the north east" (BBC, 7/10).