Tim Goss is a British Formula 1 engineer and the Chief Technical Officer of the Racing Bulls team. Born on 28 February 1963, he is one of the most experienced technical leaders in the paddock, with a career spanning McLaren, the FIA and now the Faenza-based squad. ¹²

Education and early career

Goss studied at Imperial College London, where his postgraduate work specialised in the ignition of turbocharged engines. He began in motorsport at Cosworth in 1986, working on engine technology, before moving to McLaren in 1990 as the engineer responsible for engine installation design. ¹

“Goss is an experienced, versatile technical leader whose career bridges engineering and governance.”

Nearly three decades at McLaren

Over almost 30 years at McLaren, Goss progressed through a remarkable range of senior roles: assistant race engineer to Mika Häkkinen, head of vehicle dynamics and chief powertrain engineer — a tenure that included the introduction of the sport's first seamless-shift gearbox in 2005. He also served as chief engineer on the car programme in the mid-2000s before being named Director of Engineering in January 2011. After Paddy Lowe's departure to Mercedes, he became Technical Director in February 2013, holding the post until 2018, when he was replaced by James Key. His McLaren career therefore touched the team's late-1990s and 2000s competitive peak as well as its more difficult early-hybrid years. ¹²

Governance role at the FIA

Goss joined the FIA in 2021 in a single-seater technical role, and on 18 January 2023 was appointed FIA Single-Seater Technical Director, succeeding Nikolas Tombazis. In that role he sat at the centre of the regulatory machinery governing F1's technical rules — exactly the kind of insider perspective on the rulebook that is valuable as teams interpret new regulations. He left the governing body to return to a team in 2024. ¹²

Remit at Racing Bulls

Goss joined Racing Bulls as Chief Technical Officer in 2024, taking charge of the team's overall technical organisation. For the 2026 regulations he sits above the day-to-day engineering structure: when Dan Fallows joins as Technical Director in April 2026, he reports directly to Goss, who retains responsibility for the broader technical direction and strategy. The structure pairs Goss's organisational and rulebook expertise with Fallows's hands-on aerodynamics leadership. ³

Why he matters

Goss combines deep design-and-powertrain expertise from a long McLaren career with insider knowledge of the rulebook from his FIA years — a rare blend at a moment when both chassis and power-unit regulations have changed at once. For a team that has historically punched above its budget, having a technical chief who understands both how to build a competitive car and how the regulations are written and policed is a meaningful asset. ¹³

Bottom line

Goss is an experienced, versatile technical leader whose career bridges engineering and governance. At Racing Bulls he provides the steady technical direction the team needs to navigate F1's regulatory reset, overseeing a refreshed engineering structure into 2026. ¹³