The Nissan Formula E team has hired ex FIA and Alpine senior technical manager, Sylvain Rivier, who will begin his new role officially on July 1.
Rivier replaces Theophile Gouzin, who left the team for Jaguar a year ago, although he only took up his position at the start of 2026 at Jaguar after serving a period of ‘gardening leave’ with the Paris based Japanese entered team.
Nissan had to re-structure its senior design and engineering team after Gouzin’s departure with a more expansive collective technical direction implemented under the management of racing director Dorian Boisdron.
The team made some key hires last autumn including a new head of performance in the shape of experienced ex Audi and Andretti engineer, Daniel Grunwald. The German formerly engineered Daniel Abt to two EPrix wins at Mexico City and Berlin in 2018.
Rivier’s arrival will now see a return to a more defined style of technical direction with Rivier joining the Gen4 development programme, which is currently in the performance testing phase.
Nissan has completed several test days in recent weeks, the latest coming at the Navarra circuit in northern Spain last week. FEN has learned that both Victor Martins and Sam Bird cockpit time at the test.
Nissan is believed to have an option on Martins’ services for Gen4 and is set to make a decision shortly on who it will run alongside Oliver Rowland, who has a long-term contract with the Japanese manufacturer.
Who is Sylvain Rivier?
Rivier is an electronics specialist, who spent over a decade working at Citroen Sport, primarily in the World Rally project that produced several manufacturer and drivers’ titles between 2003 to 2012.
A spell at the FIA between 2009 and 2018 saw Rivier involved in the formation of the electronic rules for Formula E, as well the FIA WEC, WRC and WTCC.
Rivier than moved on to Alpine, working at the Viry Chatillon headquarters south of Paris on the same business spark where the Nissan Formula E team made their own home in 2022.
Rivier headed up the development of the Hybrid system in the Formula One and Formula E cars at Alpine, working closely with the Nissan team as it became a fully operational factory entry after working transitioning from the e.dams run operation between 2014-2022, with the period of 2014 to 2018 as Renault e.dams before becoming Nissan for the Gen2 era.
