Aldo Costa

Who is Aldo Costa?

Aldo Costa 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.