LONDON, July 10 - Honda have signed BMW Sauber chief designer Joerg Zander as deputy technical director, the Formula One team said in a statement on Tuesday.

Zander, 43, worked with BAR Honda from 2002 to 2005 as a chief engineer before moving to Williams as chief designer where he worked with Loic Bigois -- the Frenchman who joined Honda on Monday as head of aerodynamics.

He left Williams for Swiss-based BMW Sauber in March 2006.

"This is the latest in a series of key appointments that we have made in order to bolster our team," said senior technical director Shuhei Nakamoto.

"Formula One is a rapidly changing sport and we need to evolve in order to keep pace.

"With the steady performance improvements we have made over the past few races and a strengthened technical team, I am sure that the difficulties we have seen in the first half of 2007 are now behind us," he added.

Honda, race winners last August with Briton Jenson Button in Hungary, have scored one point in nine races this season.