the hugely influential Schumacher leaving Benetton for Ferrari at the end of the season, the team began to fragment. Byrne announced that he would retire in 1996. Ferrari By the conclusion of the 1996 season Michael Schumacher was being given free rein at Ferrari to build a team of engineers capable of returning the team to the top of the sport after years of underperforming. Benetton technical director Ross Brawn was hired and Ferrari approached Rory Byrne to replace the team's existing chief designer John Barnard who refused to re-locate to Italy. After long negotiations Byrne was lured from his retirement in Thailand back to Europe where he began building a design office at Ferrari's Maranello headquarters. Ferrari were immediately competitive once again, taking the title fight to the final race of the season in both 1997 and 1998. Continuing to build momentum in the following seasons, Ferrari won the constructors' championship in 1999, their first in 17 years. By the end of the 2004 season, Byrne-designed Ferraris had secured 71 race victories, six consecutive constructors' titles and five consecutive drivers' titles for Michael Schumacher with a sustained level of dominance never before seen in the sport. In 2004 Rory Byrne announced that he would be retiring from Formula One at the end of the 2006 season, handing over the role of chief designer to Aldo Costa, his assistant since 1998. On 19 September 2006, it was announced that Rory had extended his stay, as a consultant, at Ferrari for another two years which led him until early 2009. In 2012, Byrne was called in to look at the Ferrari F2012 F1 car after it had a troubled start to its life. He was also involved in the design of LaFerrari. In February 2013, at the launch of F138 – in interview to the German Auto Motor und Sport Rory Byrne said that he is "working full steam" on Ferrari's 2014 F1 car, in an advisory role. Maurizio Arrivabene revealed that Byrne is working as mentor in Ferrari helping the chief designer Simone Resta. Byrne was heavily involved in the design of the 2022 Ferrari F1-75. As the car proved successful on the first part of the season, his contract was renewed for further three years. Discovery Insure Byrne is a Special Engineering Advisor to Discovery Insure in South Africa in which he assists the company in improving the driving