Stephen Knowles

Stephen Knowles is a British Formula One engineer. He is currently the Head of Sporting at the Red Bull Racing Formula One team.^[1]

Knowles studied Mechanical Engineer at the University of Bath. He began his Formula One career with Mercedes in 2012 as a graduate in the strategy department. He progressed steadily through the group, becoming a Race Strategy Engineer and later Senior Strategy Engineer.^[2] Initially factory-based, he began travelling to races in 2015. In 2016 he was seconded to the now-defunct Manor Racing team as Chief Strategist trackside, leading race strategy operations for the season. He returned to Mercedes in 2017 as a Pitwall Strategist, contributing to the team's championship-winning campaigns during the hybrid era. Seeking a new challenge, Knowles joined Red Bull Racing during the 2021 season as part of the strategy department. From 2022 he worked full-time trackside, and at the season-ending 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix he led race strategy for the first time.^[3]

Across the 2023 and 2024 seasons he was a regular presence on the pit wall alongside Will Courtenay and Hannah Schmitz, sharing strategy lead and support duties on a rotating basis. In September 2024, following a restructuring of the race team, Knowles was promoted to Head of Sporting while continuing his involvement in race strategy operations.^[4] In this role Knowles assumed responsibility for overseeing the team's sporting framework, including regulatory compliance, liaison with the FIA and Formula One Management, and coordination of operational procedures across race weekends.^[5]