Steve Nielsen
Alpine Salary

White Alpine F1 Logo
Alpine
Managing Director
Last Updated: 30 September 2026
Steve Nielsen headshot
£300k-1m ($398k-1.3m)
Base Salary
Joint highest paid operations staff member in F1
£30k-300k ($40k-398k)
Bonus
£330k-1.3m ($437k-1.7m)
Annual Income
Not Disclosed
Net Worth
Verified
Reported
Estimated
Calculated
Alpine

Managing Director

Employer
Alpine Racing Limited
Joined
2025
Role Start
September 2025
Announced
July 4, 2025
Contract
Not Disclosed
Base Salary
£300k-1m ($398k-1.3m)
Bonus
£30k-300k ($40k-398k)
Annual Income
£330k-1.3m ($437k-1.7m)
Full Name
Steve Nielsen
Nationality
British
Born
July 2, 1964
In F1 Since
1986
Role Type
Operations
Reports To
Flavio Briatore, Executive Adviser
Net Worth
Not Disclosed

Steve Nielsen's Pay for Running Alpine F1

Steve Nielsen has the widest day-to-day job at Enstone, and his pay band is wide to match. We put his base at £300k-1m ($398k-1.3m), F1 Salaries’ band for operations executives, and the bonus range of £30k-300k ($40k-398k) takes that to £330k-1.3m ($437k-1.7m).

He answers only to Flavio Briatore, and Alpine hasn’t disclosed the real figure. Kursiv’s April 2026 list gave him €800k ($912k) but described him as a consultant, so that number doesn’t tell you what Alpine pays its managing director.

Our Motorsport Salary Survey: Pay Trends and Career Opportunities Statistics fluidjobs.com

Anonymous motorsport pay survey behind the 10% to 30% bonus range applied to Nielsen's operations band.

The €37 Mln Mastermind: Adrian Newey Tops F1 Earner List as 2026 Salaries Revealed uz.kursiv.media

April 2026 list that shows Nielsen on €800k but labels him a consultant, so it can't describe his current pay.

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Insider · Oct 15, 2026

Issue 1 · Thursday

Verstappen Sweeps Singapore

He won the sprint and the Grand Prix, and at $70m a year he's still the best-paid driver on the grid.

Verstappen's Contract

Salary

$70m

Points

221

Per Point

$317k

Our Take · Insider+

What Each Point Now Costs Red Bull

Steve Nielsen's Day-to-Day Job Running Alpine

Nielsen runs Alpine’s day-to-day operation at Enstone and reports to executive adviser Flavio Briatore. Briatore’s brief covers recruitment, the driver market and strategy, while Nielsen makes the factory and the race team work week to week.

He started on September 1, 2025. Before that he’d held sporting roles at several teams, Enstone among them, and then served as sporting director for Formula 1 and later for the FIA. That gives him an unusual view of the rulebook, from the regulator’s side as well as a team’s.

Steve Nielsen alpinef1.com

Alpine's biography of Nielsen, which sets out the order of his career and his managing director responsibilities.

From driving a catering truck to running an F1 team: Alpine's Nielsen on four decades in the paddock autosport.com

February 2026 interview on how Nielsen's paddock career began with catering work and led to running Alpine.

BWT Alpine Formula One Team announces Steve Nielsen as Managing Director and other senior hires media.alpinecars.com

Alpine's July 2025 announcement naming Nielsen managing director alongside other senior hires.

Nielsen to return to Alpine as managing director bbc.com

Confirms the July 2025 announcement and his September 1, 2025 start at Enstone.

Steve Nielsen
Photo alpinef1.com

Steve Nielsen's F1 Career With Teams, F1 and the FIA

Nielsen started out in catering work and has since spent about four decades in the paddock, first with teams and later with Formula 1 and the FIA.

Early career
Catering, Team Lotus and Tyrrell
Nielsen got into the paddock through catering work, then moved into team management with Team Lotus and later Tyrrell.
Later team roles
Honda, Arrows and Enstone
He worked for Honda and Arrows and had a long spell with the Enstone team through its Benetton, Renault, and Lotus years, including Renault's 2005 and 2006 titles.
Before 2017
Caterham, Toro Rosso and Williams
He held sporting roles at Caterham, Toro Rosso, and Williams in the years before Formula 1 itself recruited him.
2017
Formula 1 Sporting Director
Formula 1 appointed him sporting director, looking after the sporting and organizational side of the championship under Ross Brawn.
2023
FIA Sporting Director
He crossed to the governing body in 2023 as the FIA's sporting director, the first time he'd worked for the regulator rather than a team or the championship.
After FIA
Chief Motorsports Operations Officer
Nielsen went back to Formula 1 and ended up as its chief motorsports operations officer, the last job he held before Alpine.
September 2025
Alpine Managing Director
Alpine announced him on July 4, 2025 and he started on September 1, running the Enstone operation and reporting to Flavio Briatore.

What People Ask About Steve Nielsen

Steve Nielsen is Alpine’s managing director, a British F1 veteran who started the job on September 1, 2025. He began in team management at Team Lotus and Tyrrell and had a long spell at Enstone in the Benetton and Renault years. Senior jobs with Formula 1 and the FIA came later.

Steve Nielsen started as Alpine’s managing director on September 1, 2025. The team had announced the appointment on July 4 that year, so there were about two months between the news and his first day. He came from Formula 1, where he was chief motorsports operations officer.

Yes, Steve Nielsen reports to Flavio Briatore, Alpine’s executive adviser. Nielsen runs the day-to-day operation at Enstone, while Briatore’s brief covers recruitment, the driver market, the team’s structure and competitive strategy, so the managing director carries out the plan that the adviser shapes.

A base of £300k-1m ($398k-1.3m) is what F1 Salaries gives Steve Nielsen, and a bonus of £30k-300k ($40k-398k) would lift his year to £330k-1.3m ($437k-1.7m). Alpine hasn’t published his pay, and no credible net worth figure exists for him.

Steve Nielsen joined the FIA as its sporting director in 2023, after more than five years in the same role for Formula 1. He then went back to Formula 1 and became chief motorsports operations officer, which was his job when Alpine announced him as managing director in July 2025.

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