Tim Goss: Leading engineer becomes third senior figure to quit FIA

Tim Goss pictured on the podium at the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2012 with McLaren's race winner Jenson Button (second right) and then-Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso (left) and Felipe Massa (right)

Leading engineer Tim Goss has left his role as the single-seater technical director of motorsport's governing body the FIA, BBC Sport can reveal.

Goss, who is expected to join a Formula 1 team, is the third senior figure to quit the FIA in the last month.

His resignation follows that of sporting director Steve Nielsen and the departure of the head of the FIA's commission for women, Deborah Mayer.

Nielsen will be replaced by Tim Malyon, the FIA's safety director since 2021.

The FIA has not yet made an appointment to replace Goss.

FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis said: "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."

An FIA statement quoted Goss saying: "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."

Goss, 60, is a respected engineer who had a long career at McLaren, rising to become technical director from 2014 to 2018. He was removed from his post as a result of a restructure brought about by the team's fall from competitiveness and later joined the FIA.

Who is Tim Malyon?

Malyon joined the FIA in 2019 as head of research and had formerly worked as chief engineer for BMW's team in the all-electric Formula E championship.

The Canadian was Sauber's head of engineering in F1 from 2015 to 2016 before joining BMW in the DTM German Touring Car Championship, and before that was an engineer for Red Bull in F1.

Tombazis said: "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."

Niels Wittich will continue in his role of race director, which he took on in 2022 after the departure from the FIA of his predecessor Michael Masi. Wittich will report to Malyon.

Masi was dismissed after making errors in implementing the rules at the 2021 F1 season finale in Abu Dhabi.

After the Australian incorrectly operated a restart following a late safety-car period, Max Verstappen passed Lewis Hamilton for the lead on the final lap, ensuring the destiny of the world title passed from the Briton to the Dutchman.

What will F1 make of the upheaval?

Losing three senior figures in such a short space of time is not a good look for the FIA, and it has prompted one senior figure within the sport to tell BBC Sport the organisation is in "a total mess".

The FIA is yet to comment on Mayer's departure, but it is said she decided not to reapply for her position after her term came to an end.

Nielsen - a highly respected figure within F1, with three decades of experience in sporting management - left because he believed the FIA was not willing to make the changes he felt were required to make its race-control operations fit for purpose.

Sources close to the FIA told BBC Sport Goss had similar frustrations with the internal operations of the FIA as Nielsen, as well as unhappiness over the process of creating the new technical rules that will be introduced in F1 in 2026.

These will introduce new hybrid engines, with a greater proportion of power created by the electric motor than now, and new aerodynamic rules.

Although the three departures differ in nature, the turmoil within the FIA will raise further questions about the leadership of president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who has been embroiled in a series of controversies since being elected in December 2021.

Last month, the FIA was undermined by both commercial rights holders F1 and all the F1 teams after it launched a compliance investigation into Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff and his wife Susie, the director of the F1 Academy for aspiring female racing drivers.

The move caused widespread dismay within F1, where many senior figures are uncomfortable about Ben Sulayem but prefer to keep their counsel in public.

The FIA announced the compliance inquiry in the wake of a magazine report that said a rival team had raised the issue of a potential conflict of interest involving the couple.

Mercedes and F1 immediately put out strongly worded statements rejecting the accusation.

This was followed by all Mercedes' rival teams releasing co-ordinated and identically worded statements saying they had made no such complaint.

The ethics investigation was then closed two days after it had been announced.

The dispute comes against a backdrop of worsening relations between F1 and the FIA on a number of fronts.

Ben Sulayem said in February last year that he was stepping back from direct involvement in F1.

This came after a series of controversies since he was elected president, including the unearthing of sexist remarks he made in the past.

But he has remained active behind the scenes and teams have viewed a series of incidents in recent months as being directly linked to him, including the decision to call Wolff and Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur to the stewards at the final race of the season for swearing in a news conference.

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