Technical director Tim Goss latest key F1 figure to leave FIA

The news comes in the wake of the resignation of sporting director Steve Nielsen last month, with both men having played key roles in the organisation.

Goss's departure is a major blow to the FIA as he had become a key technical player with a focus on the 2026 regulations, reporting to single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis.

Tombazis noted: "We are disappointed to lose a person of Tim's calibre from the organisation. Tim has played a major part in the technical department and has always operated to the highest level.

"We understand that his career is taking a new direction going forward and we support and respect his desire to pursue another path, and wish him luck for his future endeavours."

Goss worked at McLaren from 1990 to 2018 before taking up a role with the FIA, and is highly respected within the paddock.

"It's been an honour to work as technical director at the FIA and to help shape the future of the sport," he said. "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."

The governing body announced on Monday that Nielsen will be replaced by Tim Malyon, who previously served as safety director.

The FIA says that Malyon "will oversee all sporting matters, including race direction and the Remote Operations Centre in Geneva," with Niels Wittich remaining in his role as race director.

Tombazis also paid tribute to Nielsen, who moved to the FIA from a similar sporting director role with the F1 organisation. He played a big role in improving the efficiency of race control.

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Steve Nielsen, Sporting Director, Formula 1

"Steve has been a fantastic asset to the single-seater department over the course of the 2023 F1 season and has been part of a crucial year of development and positive steps forward in our activities," said Tombazis.

"There is, of course, still a lot to do, and we will be building on these strong foundations over the coming years. We wish Steve the best for his next challenge."

His replacement Malyon worked for Red Bull, Sauber and BMW before joining the FIA in 2019, and was head of research before taking up the safety director role. He has been instrumental in the development of the remote operations centre that backs up race control at the circuits.

"Tim has a wealth of motorsport experience and expertise at the highest level," said Tombazis. "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."

Regarding his new role, Malyon said: "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."

Late last year another key member of the FIA F1 team was lost with the departure of Christian Bryll, who had served as logistics manager for 10 years and latterly was the official starter.

The German has started a new job with Riedel, the communications company that works with the FIA.