Andy Stevenson (born 20 September 1967) is a British Formula One former mechanic and team manager.[1] He is currently the Sporting Director of the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team, having held that job since 2005 through various iterations of the team that was originally known as Jordan Grand Prix.[2]
As well as overseeing the race team, a key part of his role involves liaising with the FIA on future sporting regulations and representing the team in dealings with the FIA Stewards on race weekends.[3]
Career
Stevenson is the son of a mechanical engineer who had raced motorbikes in his younger days.[4] Born in Northampton in 1967, Stevenson grew up in the village of Pitsford. In his youth he developed an interest in motorsport, and first became involved by helping a friend to modify motocross bikes.[5] At the age of 17 he landed his first job as a mechanic at the Magnum F3 team, having been at school with the son of Magnum owner John Robinson. He worked on the car of Canadian driver Fulton Haight.
Eddie Jordan Racing 1987-1990
In 1987 Stevenson was offered a job at the Silverstone-based Eddie Jordan Racing F3 team by former Magnum colleague Bosco Quinn. Despite apparent opposition from Eddie Jordan himself, Stevenson joined the team, initially as mechanic to Jason Elliott in 1988. The following year he moved up to Jordan’s F3000 team to work on the car of Jean Alesi, who won three races and the 1989 FIA championship title. In 1990 he worked with Eddie Irvine as the team prepared for a graduation to Formula One under the Jordan Grand Prix name.[6]
Jordan Grand Prix 1991-2005
When Jordan moved up to Formula One in 1991 Stevenson was given a position as mechanic on Bertrand Gachot’s car.[7] After Gachot lost his drive, Stevenson worked with Michael Schumacher on the German’s debut at the Belgian Grand Prix, and subsequently with later replacements Roberto Moreno and Alex Zanardi. The team finished fifth in the World Championship in its first season. [8]
Stevenson would remain in a mechanic role for the next nine seasons, working with Stefano Modena (1992), Ivan Capelli, Thierry Boutsen, Marco Apicella, Emanuele Naspetti (all 1993), Eddie Irvine (1993-5), Aguri Suzuki and Andrea de Cesaris (1994), Martin Brundle (1996), Ralf Schumacher (1997-8), and Heinz-Harald Frentzen (1999-2000). In 1999 Frentzen won the French GP and the Italian GP and was briefly seen as an outside contender for the World Championship. He was eventually classified third. [9]
In 2001 Stevenson was promoted to the role of Chief Mechanic on the test team, attending only two races that season. In 2002 he returned to fulltime race weekend duty in the Chief Mechanic job, overseeing Giancarlo Fisichella’s victory in the 2003 Brazilian GP.[10]
In late 2004 Eddie Jordan sold his team to Russian-Canadian businessman Alex Shnaider. Prior to leaving Jordan had nominated Stevenson as the new Team Manager, replacing the departing Tim Edwards. Stevenson took over the job for 2005, the final season under the Jordan name.[11]
Midland and Spyker (2006-2007)
Stevenson retained his Team Manager role for 2006, when Shnaider renamed the team Midland F1 Racing for 2006,[12] although it was also widely known as MF1 Racing. The team was short of finance, and in September that year it was sold to Spyker Cars, subsequently running under the name Spyker MF1 for the final three races.
The team failed to score a point that season,[13] as was the case in 2007, its sole year under the Spyker name. Before the end of that season, it was sold once more to a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya.
Force India (2008-2018)
Mallya renamed the team as Force India for the 2008 season.[14] Shortly after taking over the Team Principal role in 2009, Otmar Szafnauer gave Stevenson the title of Sporting Director, which by then had become the common name among teams for the traditional Team Manager job.
With new investment from Mallya, Force India began a recovery that would see it reach sixth place in the World Championship in 2011, fifth in 2015, and a high of fourth in 2016 and 2017.
However, after Mallya hit legal issues,[15] the team began to face serious financial problems, and in the summer of 2018 it went into receivership. It was bought by businessman Lawrence Stroll, and renamed Racing Point Force India from that year’s Belgian GP, starting on zero points.[16]
Racing Point (2018-2020)
Stevenson retained his Sporting Director role through the change of ownership and played a key part in the subsequent effort to rebuild the team – now known solely as Racing Point - with Stroll’s investment. In 2020 Sergio Perez won the Sakhir GP and logged the first victory for the team under any name since 2003.[17] Racing Point finished fourth in that year’s World Championship.[18]
Aston Martin (2021-Present)
For the 2021 season the team was relaunched as Aston Martin,[19] with Stevenson again maintaining his Sporting Director role. Former World Champion Sebastian Vettel joined Lance Stroll in the line-up, before his retirement at the end of the 2022 season. For 2023 Vettel was replaced by another former World Champion in Fernando Alonso. That year the Spaniard logged eight podium finishes and helped the team to finish fifth in the World Championship both that season[20] and again in 2024. In 2025[21] the team finished seventh in the standings.
Stevenson has continued in the Team Manager/Sporting Director role at what is informally widely known as ‘Team Silverstone’ throughout the changes of name and ownership. At the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP he received rare public recognition after Alonso finished third and was initially excluded because a mechanic was deemed to have touched the car while a penalty was being served. Stevenson was credited with successfully arguing for a right of review and convincing the stewards to reverse their initial decision.[22]
Personal life
In 2008 Stevenson married British-American businesswoman Joanna Shields, who became Baroness Shields when she was elevated to the peerage in 2014. Stevenson is stepfather to her son, Ben.[23] Stevenson has a wide range of interests outside motor racing, including rugby and running.[24] He is an associate member of the BRDC and has assisted with the club’s young driver programme.
References
↑Gregoire, Francois-Michel (April 2006). Who Works in Formula One 2006. p. 258. ISBN 9781901711424.
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