Pierre Gasly praises Steve Nielsen’s influence on Alpine and believes his experience can help the team
While Flavio Briatore is, for most people, the public face at the helm of the Alpine team, it is actually Steve Nielsen who pulls the strings behind the scenes. The 62-year-old Briton was hired as “Managing Director” after his predecessor, Oliver Oakes, unexpectedly left the team.
For Pierre Gasly, Nielsen is a key figure at Alpine with a positive influence who is expected to help bring the French team back to the top: “I really like Steve and what he brings to the table,” emphasizes Gasly, who has already had to work with a whole range of people and approaches at Alpine.
For Nielsen, the position in Enstone was, in a sense, a comeback: Back in the 1990s, he was employed for a short time by the team’s predecessor, Benetton, and after stints at Tyrrell, Honda, and Arrows, he rejoined Benetton, where, as sporting director, he helped oversee the transition to Renault and Lotus.
“He was in Enstone for many years, has seen the team evolve, and knows most of the people here,” says Gasly. “After that, he went to another organization—with a slightly different perspective on the sport, but still right in the thick of things.”
After further stints with other teams, he was first appointed sporting director of Formula 1 before taking on the same position at the FIA in 2023. “I think that gave him an enormous amount of knowledge and experience,” says Gasly.
“And now, back in Enstone in this role, I really feel that he has a very good sense of what we need and what we’re building here,” he continues. “He has a good rapport with everyone on the team and a clear vision of what we need to change to reach the level we all want.”
When Nielsen took over the team in September 2025, Alpine was in last place in the Constructors’ Championship. A year later, the team is now in sixth place and has thus improved. “So I have to say that things are going very well so far,” says Gasly.
However, Nielsen’s influence on the new car for 2026 likely wasn’t all that significant, since he didn’t join the team until the second half of the year. It’s also worth noting that, over the course of the current season, Alpine has fallen slightly behind the top teams and had to cede ground to the Racing Bulls.
Gasly knows that patience is required. “As the saying goes: As much as we’d like such changes to take effect overnight—it simply takes much longer than any of us would hope.”