Nick Chester
Nick Chester | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 22, 1969 United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Motorsport engineer |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Known for | Technical director roles in Formula One and Formula E teams |
Nick Chester (born 22 March 1969) is an accomplished British engineer specializing in motorsport.
Early life
Chester earned his engineering degree from Cambridge University in 1991.
Career
Chester's career commenced at Simtek Research, where he worked on vehicle simulation before progressing to their Formula One team in 1994. The following year, he joined Arrows, concentrating on vehicle simulation and suspension design. He subsequently took on roles as performance and race engineer, working with drivers such as Damon Hill and Mika Salo.
In 2000, Chester transitioned to Benetton as a test engineer supporting Alexander Wurz, Giancarlo Fisichella, and Mark Webber. He advanced to performance engineer for Fisichella in 2001 and for Jarno Trulli between 2002 and 2004, playing a significant part in Trulli’s only Formula One win at the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix.
Chester was named head of Renault’s Vehicle Performance Group in 2005, where he contributed substantially to Renault securing back-to-back Constructors' and Drivers' Championships in 2005 and 2006 with Fernando Alonso. He managed the development of the innovative tuned mass damper technology and was elevated to head of performance systems in 2010.
In 2012, Chester assumed the role of engineering director at Lotus, greatly impacting the design of the successful E20 and E21 race cars. He replaced James Allison as Technical Director in 2013, overseeing the design and development of Enstone-based Formula One vehicles until January 2020.
Following his replacement by Pat Fry at Renault early in 2020, Chester joined the Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team as technical director in July that year. In March 2023, he was appointed technical director for Andretti Global’s Formula One initiative. Since January 2025, Chester has held the position of Chief Technical Officer for the Cadillac Formula One Team.
Career timeline
- Performance engineer – Arrows Grand Prix (1995–2000)
- Performance engineer – Benetton Formula (2000–2001)
- Performance engineer – Renault F1 (2002–2005)
- Head of Vehicle Performance Group – Renault F1 (2005–2010)
- Head of Performance Systems – Renault F1 (2010–2012)
- Engineering director – Lotus F1 (2012–2013)
- Technical director – Lotus F1 (2013–2015)
- Chassis technical director – Renault F1 (2016–2019)
- Technical director – Mercedes-Benz Formula E (2020–2022)
- Technical director – McLaren Formula E (2022–2023)