Frank Dernie is a veteran British engineer with extensive Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 motorsport experience.

Career

Dernie was brought up in Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

 and educated at Kirkham Grammar School

Kirkham Grammar School

Kirkham Grammar School is a co-educational independent school in Kirkham, Lancashire, England . It was founded in 1549. Its roots can be traced back to the chantry school attached to St Michael's Church in the 13th century. The school remained in the church grounds until it moved to occupy...

 before he studied engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

 at the Imperial College London

Imperial College London

Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...

 university. He joined the Hesketh F1 team for before becoming Patrick Head

Patrick Head

Patrick Head , is co-founder and Engineering Director of the Williams Formula One team.For 25 years from Head was technical director at Williams Grand Prix Engineering, and responsible for many innovations within Formula One. Head oversaw the design and construction of Williams cars until May 2004...

's aerodynamic assistant at Williams in time to help design the successful FW08

Williams FW08

The Williams FW08 was a Formula One car designed by Patrick Head which debuted at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix held at the Zolder circuit. An evolution of the FW07 that it replaced, the car was used by Finnish driver Keke Rosberg to win the 1982 World Drivers' Championship.The FW08B was a...

 chassis. He also designed the team's active suspension

Active suspension

Active or adaptive suspension is an automotive technology that controls the vertical movement of the wheels with an onboard system rather than the movement being determined entirely by the road surface...

 and contributed to the establishment of a wind tunnel

Wind tunnel

A wind tunnel is a research tool used in aerodynamic research to study the effects of air moving past solid objects.-Theory of operation:Wind tunnels were first proposed as a means of studying vehicles in free flight...

 facility.

For , Dernie joined Lotus

Team Lotus

Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport series including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar and sports car racing...

, replacing Gérard Ducarouge

Gérard Ducarouge

Gérard Ducarouge is a French former Formula One car designer. Like many designers, his background was based in aeronautical engineering...

 as Chief Designer. However, the team was in decline and he left to join Benetton

Benetton Formula

Benetton Formula Ltd., commonly referred to simply as Benetton, was a Formula One constructor that participated from to . The team was owned by the Benetton family who run a worldwide chain of clothing stores of the same name. In 2000 the team was purchased by Renault, but competed as Benetton for...

 for , but had to move in favour of Tim Wright

Tim Wright (engineer)

Tim Wright is a former Formula One engineer.Wright has a remarkable racing pedigree, dating back to the late 1970s when he worked at Bruce McLaren Motor Racing. His career then took him to Fittipaldi Automotive as a senior design draughtsman and then to the Spirit F1 team...

 and so went to Ligier for the season to become technical director.

He moved to Arrows

Arrows

Arrows Grand Prix International was a British Formula One team active from to . For a period of time, it was also known as Footwork.-Origins :...

 for but only stayed for a year due to the arrival of John Barnard

John Barnard

John Barnard is a race car designer and is currently working alongside Terence Woodgate designing high specification carbon fibre furniture....

. He joined Lola in order to help the team re-establish itself after MasterCard Lola

MasterCard Lola

MasterCard Lola is a former Formula One team that contested one race in the 1997 Formula One season. It quickly withdrew from the sport after failing to qualify in its sole race...

's disastrous F1 foray in .

In , Dernie left Lola to return to Williams as a consultant engineer in . He left in early and in August the same year joined the Toyota F1 team as a consultant in 'aerodynamic and chassis related matters'
.