Alex Hitzinger


Alexander, or Alex, Hitzinger is a German engineer, until 31 March 2016 he was the Technical Director of the Porsche LMP1 project. He previously worked as Head of Advanced Technologies for the Red Bull and Toro Rosso Formula One teams.

Early life and education

Hitzinger was born in Passau, Germany. He has been interested in motorsports since he was a teenager. Different from most boys, who are fascinated by fast cars, he was mainly interested in the technical aspects of the car. He studied mechanical engineering at University of Applied Sciences Landshut as an undergraduate and earned an MBA from Warwick Business School at University of Warwick, UK.

Career

Hitzinger's first job in the automotive industry was at Toyota Motorsport as a development engineer. Hitzinger moved to Cosworth together with World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz, when Carlos changed team from Toyota to Ford. At Cosworth, he firstly worked as Head of the Ford-Cosworth World Rally Championship programme and then as Head of F1 Development. In 2005, at the age of 34, Hitzinger was one of the youngest chief engineers in F1.
Under Hitzinger’s leadership, in 2006, Cosworth F1 team developed the first ever F1 engine to attain 20,000 rpm at the track, despite the difficult circumstances. This set a new standard at the time for F1 engines.
From 2006 to 2011 he worked as Head of Advanced Technologies for Red Bull Technology and from mid- and mid- he also filled the role of Technical Director of the Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One team.
Since 2011, Hitzinger has been Technical Director of the Porsche LMP1 project.
On 14 March 2016, it was announced that Alex Hitzinger was leaving Porsche.
On 16 December 2016 it was reported that Hitzinger is working for Apple on its Project Titan electric car project.
On 10 January 2019 it was reported that he starts working for Volkswagen as head of the technical development for its commercial vehicles division as well as its self-driving car and MaaS programs.