"Mike Elliott, the former chief aerodynamicist at Lotus"
According to my info Independent isn't responsible for the organizational structure in Enstone... but maybe I'm wrong ;) Elliott has worked for many years at McLaren as a low-level aerodynamics. In 2009 he was hired as one of the last employees by (his current chief, it is not case) Robert Bell, but still not-hight as a senior aerodynamicist. He was promoted but I don't remember how high. He probably was something group leader or principal aerodynamicist. Then His supervisor (project R31 leader) was higher rated Jonathan Somerville who came from Toyota and after year moved to Williams. Don't get me wrong Elliott is a wise guy and imo he will bloom in MGP as a aero cheif but he definitely wasn't Dirk DeBeer;)