In his role, Tim Malyon will oversee all sporting matters, including race direction and the Remote Operations Centre (ROC) in Geneva, reporting to FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis. Under Malyon, Niels Wittich will continue as race director.
In announcing Malyon’s arrival, the FIA has confirmed Nielsen will leave at the end of the month, his exit exactly 12 months on from his switch from the same role within F1 to motorsport’s governing body.
It is understood Nielsen chose to leave as he did not feel the FIA was willing to make the changes he believed were required to improve.
The FIA has also announced Tim Goss is to leave as technical director to take up a position outside of the Federation.
Concerning Malyon, he brings a “wealth of motorsport experience and expertise at the highest level”, according to Tombazis.
He added: “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.”
Malyon previously worked for Red Bull Racing for 12 years, having joined the team when it was known as Jaguar Racing. He worked in various race engineering roles and contributed to Red Bull’s four constructors’ and drivers’ championships in 2010-2013.
After spells as head of track engineering with Sauber Motorsport, chief engineer for BMW Motorsport’s DTM programme, and track engineering department leader and chief engineer for BMW’s Formula E team, Malyon joined the FIA In 2019 as head of research.
He was subsequently appointed to the position of safety director in 2021, playing an integral role in the establishment of the ROC, and then overseeing operational duties as its project leader since May 2022.
Looking ahead to 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.”
Bidding farewell to Nielsen, Tombazis insisted he had been “a fantastic asset to the single-seater department over the course of the 2023 Formula 1 season”, as well as being “part of a crucial year of development and positive steps forward in our activities”.
Tombazis, however, insisted there was “still a lot to do”, and that his department would “be building on these strong foundations over the coming years”.
Nielsen insisted his short time with the FIA had been “a fantastic experience”.
He added: “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.”
Tombazis expressed obvious disappointment in losing a person of Goss’ calibre given he “always operated to the highest level” but fully respected his decision to take a new direction with his career.
In departing the FIA, Goss has no doubt its technical department “is on a firm footing” to address the tasks ahead, including the introduction of the 2026 regulations.
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