Alpine has named Steve Nielsen as its Managing Director amid other hires in F1 team, as Tim Mayer announces FIA President candidature.
BWT Alpine Formula One Team is pleased to announce that Steve Nielsen will be joining the team as Managing Director. Under the leadership of Flavio Briatore, Nielsen will oversee the day-to-day running of the team at Enstone, starting from 1st September ahead of the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
The appointment marks a return to the team for Nielsen, who is one of the most long-standing and well-respected figures in the sport and has previously spent multiple stints at Enstone for Benetton and Renault, most notably as Sporting Director during the 2005 and 2006 championship winning years.
Since then, Nielsen has worked at other teams and more recently has held roles at the FIA and Formula One, bringing with him a wealth of experience in managing teams and racing operations. Nielsen also played a pivotal role in the return to racing in 2020 during the global health pandemic.
A number of key hires have been recently made by BWT Alpine Formula One Team across the business, including Kris Midgley as Head of Aerodynamic Development, and Guy Martin as Global Marketing Director.
Midgley, who reports to Executive Technical Director David Sanchez, has previously worked at Enstone from 2007 to 2013, before moving to Ferrari where he worked as Principal Aerodynamicist. Midgley is another key hire for the team, bolstering the technical department ahead of the vast opportunities that present themselves for the new regulation era in 2026.
Martin joins the team from Visa, where he has been instrumental in driving the sponsorship and partnership strategy for the brand, leading on rights-holder negotiations, on-site activation and operations delivery, as well as commercialisation for properties such as the Visa CashApp Racing Bulls Team, FIFA, the Olympic Games, NFL International, Disney, Africa Cup of Nations, and the FIA Formula E Championship.
In his previous role at Visa, Guy also introduced new entertainment verticals to the business such as music and gaming, to drive greater fan and customer engagement and to capture new audiences.
Tim Mayer –
Former F1 steward Tim Mayer launched his candidature to become FIA President during the British GP weekend. The American will go up against incumbent President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who seeks re-election for his second term at the helm.
For long, Carlos Sainz Sr looked to be the second candidate but once he decided to drop out, it seemed that Sulayem will go unopposed but Mayer has since stepped up. The American has had a past the current President, after the events of 2024 US GP.
A fan invasion post grand prix led to fine from the FIA, which was appealed to remove certain statements. This did not sit well with Sulayem – as noted by Mayer. The American also alleged Sulayem’s involvement in swearing fines and also penalty to Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in Saudi Arabian GP, which was later overturned.
Mayer will reveal his full team in time to come, but launched a verbal attack on the current President during his announcement as a candidate under the name ‘FIA Forward’. Here’s the website: https://www.fiaforward.com/
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[The story is as per press release]
