Steve Nichols is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 engineer

Engineer

An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

 who is best known as a car designer for many Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 teams from the mid-1980s until .

Profile

Nichols graduated from the University of Utah

University of Utah

The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...

 in 1972. He began his career as a development engineer at Hercules Aerospace in 1973. In mid-1980 he moved to motorsport and joined McLaren

McLaren

McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup...

 in Formula One. In he became head car designer in McLaren. His first car, the McLaren MP4-4 driven by Ayrton Senna

Ayrton Senna

Ayrton Senna da Silva was a Brazilian racing driver. A three-time Formula One world champion, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time...

 and Alain Prost

Alain Prost

Alain Marie Pascal Prost, OBE, Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur is a French racing driver. A four-time Formula One Drivers' Champion, Prost has won more titles than any driver except for Juan Manuel Fangio , and Michael Schumacher . From 1987 until 2001 Prost held the record for most Grand Prix...

 dominated the 1988 season with 15 race victories from 16 races. The one failure of the year was the Italian GP, which was won by Ferrari.

At the end of , he moved to Ferrari. At Ferrari he reunited with Alain Prost. Nichols and Prost later dominated the season, but failed to become world champion after being involved in accident with Ayrton Senna from McLaren in the final race at Suzuka. He stayed at Ferrari until December 1991, and later joined with Sauber to help Peter Sauber

Peter Sauber

Peter Sauber is the team principal and owner of various motorsports teams, most visibly the eponymous Sauber Formula One team.- Motorsport career :...

 move into Formula One. In he moved to Jordan as chief designer; later in he was back at McLaren as a technical consultant. He assisted McLaren back to the front of the grid and winning the world title in and .

In he joined Jaguar Racing

Jaguar Racing

Jaguar Racing was a Formula One team that competed in the FIA Formula One World Championship from 2000 to 2004. It was formed from the purchase by Ford of Jackie Stewart's Stewart Grand Prix Formula One team in June 1999. Ford renamed the team Jaguar Racing as part of its global marketing...

as technical director. Although his success gave the first podium for Jaguar in Monaco, he was fired at the end of 2001 season.