The FIA today unveiled a new management structure that will take over Formula 1 in the federation from this year, with Steve Nielsen as sporting director.
Since 2017, he has worked as a sports director of Formula 1 and was subordinate to Ross Brown, but his championship career began in 1986: in his youth, Nielsen worked as a regular truck driver for MSL, which provided catering services to teams.
But soon he was invited to Lotus, where he was also one of the drivers at first, after which he was promoted and became coordinator of the spare parts department. After that, Nielsen worked in various positions at Tyrrell, Arrows, Benetton and remained with the Enstone team for a long time when it gained factory status and changed its name to Renault. He was already sports director there, but before he joined the management of Formula 1, he knew how to work hard at Caterham, Toro Rosso and Williams.
Of course, with such rich experience, he knows very well the laws by which this complex sport lives and develops, and it is not surprising that Nielsen will now continue his career in the FIA.
Formula 1 president Stefano Domenicali said: “I would like to thank Steve Nielsen for his work and dedication over the past five years. He is one of the most respected professionals in our sport and we fully support his move to the FIA. experience and skills will help the federation, which continues its efforts to improve work during race weekends.”
Nielsen’s new appointment is also supported by the Formula 1 teams.
“Steve is well respected, everyone knows him and he has a great relationship with everyone in the pit lane,” said McLaren Racing CEO Zach Brown. “He meets all the requirements and I don’t think any of the teams will doubt the correctness of the decision to appoint him.”
According to BBC Sport, Nielsen has turned down similar offers twice in the past – first after the sudden death of Charlie Whiting and then after the sacking of Michael Masi. But now he has agreed to become the federation’s sports director, recognizing that it is in the best interest of all of Formula 1.
This has been applauded by Gunther Steiner, Head of Haas F1, among others: “As Steve has worked in Formula 1 for so long, he is well versed in history, he knows what happened in certain situations.
The main problem of some people who have worked in the championship is that they don’t know the history of the past 20 years. And it’s very hard to get it all right. This is not to say that these are bad people, but they simply do not have the necessary experience.
Steve has both experience and knowledge – he knows what happened and when. It is better if such a person holds such a position, it helps to avoid ambiguous decisions.”
In particular, Nielsen will oversee the work of the FIA’s race directors and assist them in difficult circumstances.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
