Symonds was born in Bedford, England, and educated at Gresham's School in Holt, Norfolk. He studied automotive engineering at Cranfield Institute of Technology at Oxford Polytechnic and then at Cranfield University's Institute of Technology, where he gained a Masters in vehicle dynamics in 1976.
Symonds began his career as an undergraduate apprentice with the Ford Motor Company. He then joined Hawke, a racing car company, as a designer of Formula Ford racing cars. After two years at Hawke he moved to Royale Racing, where he met Rory Byrne, and the two continued producing Formula Ford cars together until 1979.
In 1979 Symonds joined Toleman. Under its partnership with Hart Racing Engines, the team proved competitive in Formula Two: Brian Henton and Derek Warwick won four races and finished 1–2 in the 1980 European Formula Two Championship. As the team moved into Formula One, Symonds worked on research and development while also serving as race engineer to Stefan Johansson in a Formula Two Toleman run by Docking Spitzley Racing. In subsequent seasons he became a full-time Formula One member of the team, serving as race engineer to Warwick and Teo Fabi in 1982, Bruno Giacomelli in 1983, and a rookie Ayrton Senna in 1984.
As Toleman was taken over and renamed Benetton Formula, Symonds remained with the team throughout its subsequent transition to Renault F1, working his way through the technical ranks and serving as engineer to several drivers including Alessandro Nannini and Teo Fabi.
In 1991, after Benetton hired John Barnard as technical director, Symonds and Rory Byrne left and signed with Adrian Reynard to design a Reynard Formula One car. The project failed and both returned to Benetton when Barnard fell out with Flavio Briatore.
In the mid-1990s Symonds was Michael Schumacher's race engineer, helping him win two World Championships in 1994 and 1995, while also taking on the role of Head of Research and Development. When Schumacher departed to Ferrari in 1996 Symonds stayed with Benetton. As Ross Brawn moved to Ferrari in 1997, Symonds became Benetton's Technical Director. When Mike Gascoyne joined in 2001 Symonds was promoted to executive director of engineering, a post he retained through the team's transition to Renault ownership in 2002 even as Gascoyne was replaced by Bob Bell. In 2005 and 2006, as executive engineer, he led Fernando Alonso to two World Championship titles.
Overall, teams involving Symonds won four Drivers' titles, three Constructors' titles, and 42 Grands Prix — 22 with Benetton and 20 with Renault.
In July 2009, Nelson Piquet Jr. claimed that Symonds had asked him to deliberately crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix in order to manufacture a situation that would help teammate Fernando Alonso win the race. On 16 September 2009, the ING Renault F1 Team released a statement confirming Symonds was no longer part of the team.
Symonds was subsequently suspended from Formula One events for five years following his acceptance that he took part in the conspiracy and his expression of "eternal regret and shame" to the FIA World Motor Sport Council. His ban was overturned by the French Tribunal de Grande Instance on 5 January 2010, and he was paid €5,000 in compensation. In April 2010 he and Briatore reached an out-of-court settlement with the FIA permitting him to return to Formula One in 2013, with consultancy work allowed in the interim.
Renault's Managing Director Flavio Briatore received an indefinite ban from any FIA-sanctioned events; that ban was also later overturned by the same French court.
In 2011 Symonds returned to Formula One as a consultant for the Virgin Racing (later Marussia F1) team to review its operations following a disappointing second season. The team subsequently parted company with its existing technical director Nick Wirth. During this period Symonds also wrote a column in F1 Racing magazine.
In July 2013 it was announced that Symonds had been appointed Chief Technical Officer at Williams Racing, replacing Mike Coughlan. He left Williams upon the expiration of his contract at the end of 2016. During his tenure the team finished ninth in 2013, third in 2014 and 2015, and fifth in 2016.
In January 2017 Symonds began serving on the committee for the MSc in Motorsport Engineering and Management at Cranfield University. In March 2017 he was announced as joining the Sky Sports F1 team, and simultaneously took up the role of Formula One's Chief Technical Officer.
Symonds held the CTO role from March 2017 until May 2024. He played a key role in shaping the 2022 regulations that brought the return of ground-effect racing cars, aimed at producing closer racing, and contributed to the 2026 regulations.
In May 2024 it was publicly announced that Symonds had signed onto Andretti Global's Formula One bid, to be known as the Cadillac Formula One team, as its executive engineering consultant for the planned 2026 entry.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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