Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Sporting Director

  • McLaren sign Will Courtenay from Red Bull

    McLaren have announced the signing of Red Bull’s Head of Strategy, Will Courtenay as their new Sporting Director.

    Courtenay will be leaving Red Bull after two decades with the team, having joined them when they raced as Jaguar before the operation was brought by the energy drinks firm.

    His signing is part of McLaren’s strengthening of their senior leadership team, with Courtenay set to report into Racing Director Randeep Singh.

    But McLaren will have to wait a little under two years for Courtenay to join, though with Red Bull saying he “continues to be part of their team seeing out his contract until mid-2026”.

    Courtenay is the third senior member of staff to choose to leave Red Bull in the last six months.
    Design guru Adrian Newey is set to leave to become Managing Technical Partner at Aston Martin while Sporting Director Jonathan Wheatley is to become Team Principal at Audi next season.

    Red Bull has since restructured the team following Wheatley’s departure, with a series of changes headlined by Verstappen’s race engineer Giapiero Lambiase becoming Head of Racing.

    Courtenay will now team up with former Red Bull colleague Rob Marshall at McLaren, with Marshall as chief designer.

    We are delighted to welcome Will to McLaren. His experience, professionalism and passion for motorsport make him the ideal candidate to lead our F1 sporting function. We are now entering a key phase in our journey as a team, and we are confident that he will be a great addition to our strong leadership team as we strive to continue challenging for wins and championships.
    Andrea Stella, Team Principal on the news.

  • FIA confirms Tim Maylon as new Sporting Director

    Tim Maylon has been confirmed as the new FIA’s Sporting Director within the Single-Seater department, replacing Steve Nielsen.

    In his new role, Maylon will oversee all sporting matters, including Race Direction and the Remote Operations Centre (ROC) in Geneva.
    He will report to Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s Single-Seater Director. Under Maylon’s direction, Niels Wittich will continue in the role of Race Director.

    The Canadian has had a distinguished career within motorsport, which includes a 12 year period with Red Bull Racing, whom he joined when the team was previously Jaguar Racing.
    He helped contribute to Red Bull’s four constructors’ and drivers’ title from 2010 – 2013 as he worked in various engineering roles.

    He went on to work for Sauber Motorsport in 2015, becoming their Head of Track Engineering, before joining BMW Motorsport as a Chief Engineer for its DTM programme in 2016.
    Following two successful years, and one championship, Maylon would then take the roles of both Track Engineering Department Leader and Chief Engineer for BMW’s Formula E team.

    In 2019, he went on to join the FIA as Head of Research and was then appointed to the position of Safety Director in 2021. He also had a key role in the establishment of the ROC and has performed the operational duties of ROC Project Leader since May 2022.

    I am delighted to be taking on the role of Sporting Director. We have already brought significant change to our Race Direction operation with the support of the ROC and I look forward to taking that to the next level. We are also committed to a broad regulatory review of sporting matters, and I look forward to applying a sharper focus to those efforts in the future.

    Maylon on the news.

    I am excited to welcome Tim to the role of Single-Seater Sporting Director. Tim has a wealth of motorsport experience and expertise at the highest level. He will play a major role as we continue to bring rigour to our sporting and regulatory practices and procedures, and he will drive the innovation we have brought to our Race Control operation. Tim has been pivotal in creating a strong synergy between Race Control and the ROC with the introduction of new technology including artificial intelligence and state-of-the-art data analysis and processing systems. He will continue to oversee advances in that area as well as taking the lead on the evolution of FIA sporting regulations.

    Sporting Director, Tombazis.

    With Maylon stepping in as the new Sporting Director, the FIA have confirmed that his predecessor Nielsen will be leaving the organisation at the end of January.

    I’d like to thank the FIA for the opportunity to work on the regulatory side of the sport, which has been a fantastic experience for me over the past year. The FIA team working in Formula 1 are a hugely passionate, dedicated group of people who work incredibly hard to achieve the best outcomes for the sport, and I am sure that the positive work that we have done together already will continue into the future.

    Nielsen on the news.

    It has also been confirmed that Tim Gloss will leave his position as Technical Director at the FIA to take up a position outside of the federation.

    It’s been an honour to work as Technical Director at the FIA and to help shape the future of the sport. I take immense pride and satisfaction from the numerous achievements of the Technical Department during my stint at the FIA. The department boasts a number of highly-talented individuals and I believe the organisation is on a firm footing in terms of technical expertise for the tasks which lie ahead – particularly the introduction of the 2026 regulations. I leave with fond memories of my time with the FIA.

    Goss on the news.

  • Changes at Alpine…

    Alpine have made some changes as team principal Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane leave the team, whilst chief technical officer Pat Fry has left to join Formula 1 rivals, Williams.

    The exits are confirmed with the French team who currently sit sixth in the constructors’ championship after 11 rounds of the 2023 season, following successive double DNFs for both drivers at the British and Hungarian Grand Prix.

    Alpine Motorsports vice president, Bruno Famin will take over from Szafnauer as interim team principal, while Alpine academy director, Julian Rouse is named interim sporting director and technical director Matt Harman takes leadership of the “technical team”.

    Fry, the only member of the trio who appears to have chosen to exit, will be able to work at Williams in November after taking up the same role with the British team.
    He replaces, Francois-Xavier Demaison, who left Williams in December amid a shake-up that also saw James Vowles replaces Jost Capito as team principal.

    The Alpine exits come little more than a week after Laurent Rossi was replaced as brand chief executive by Philippe Krieft, amid apparent infighting at the Enstone-based team.

    Szafnauer, has paid the price for Alpine’s disappointing first half of the 2023 season, which sees them sit 134 points adrift of Ferrari, who currently hold the fourth position in which the French team finished last year.

    BWT Alpine F1 Team announces today it will part ways with Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer by mutual agreement following the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix. Otmar will continue his duties as normal for last weekend’s race in Belgium, before leaving the team ahead of the summer break. The team would like to thank Otmar for his hard work over the past 18 months and for leading the team in achieving fourth place in the 2022 Constructors’ Championship. The team wishes him the best for the future. The team can also confirm it will part ways with Sporting Director Alan Permane by mutual agreement. Alan will also continue his role last weekend in Belgium before departing ahead of the summer break. After 34 distinguished years at Enstone, the team extends its thanks to Alan and wishes him the best in his future endeavours. The team also announces that Pat Fry will leave the team to continue his career in Formula 1 elsewhere.

    A Team Statement.