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F1 fans were left a bit miffed after it was announced that former Red Bull employee Tim Malyon will become the new FIA sporting director for the 2024 season.
Malyon will take over the role from Steve Nielsen at the end of January and will leave his position of overlooking the operational duties of the ROC Project Leader.
The former Red Bull performance engineer joined the sport's regulatory body in 2019 as their Head of Research and later became the Safety Director in 2021. As per F1.com, Malyon was thrilled with his appointment and said:
“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."
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“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.”
F1 fans took to social media to react to the appointment as one fan asked if it was not a conflict of interest given his Red Bull background referring to the Susie Wolff and FIA controversy, writing:
"AND THIS ISN'T A CONFLICT OF INTEREST????"
Here are some more reactions:
Nikolas Tombazis welcomes former Red Bull employee into his new role
FIA's single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis stated that he was 'excited' to welcome Malyon as the new Sporting Director. The Greek claimed that he was assured that the former Red Bull man would bring a wealth of experience and skills to his new role and said:
“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 rigor 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,"
It will be fascinating to see if Red Bull or their rivals make any comments regarding Malyon's new role at FIA, given the fractured relationship between the governing body and F1 teams in recent years.
