The Haas team has broken one more frontier in Formula 1. The North American team has promoted Laura Mueller as chief track engineer for the new signing, the French driver Esteban Ocon. She will be the first woman to perform this job in the history of F1, a sport governed since time immemorial by men.
Mueller’s role from 2025 will consist of managing the technical aspects of the car during a race, coordinating pit stops, leading the car setup for each circuit, developing strategy and communicate with the pilot.
Like all F1 track engineers, he will be the only person with the authority to communicate with the driver during a grand prix. This is a high-profile position, one of the most important in the structure of a team. It is the primary link between a driver and the team, both on the track through radio communications, and off the track in the pursuit of performance.
Mueller graduated in Automotive Engineering from the University of Munich in 2015. He worked in Formula Renault and in motorcycle championships in Brazil before making the jump to the World Endurance Championship (WEC). In 2022 she arrived in Formula 1 at the Haas team as a performance engineer and stood out on the sidelines for her words in an interview with GP Fans.
«When women are asked ‘What is the worst thing that has happened to you in the world of motorsports?’, they never tell the truth. Because no one wants to hear the truth. The misogyny is still therein a subtle way. “You always have to prove yourself and be better than the men around you,” he declared.
The head of Haas, the Japanese Ayao Komatsu, explained the choice: “We don’t care nationality or genderonly the job matters, how you fit into the team and how you can maximize performance. He is a very determined and hard-working person. His work ethic is actually very good. When you find the first solution, you know there are 10 things and now you have new questions to answer.”
“Actually, as a child I wanted to be a Formula 1 driver and be the first woman to compete against Michael Schumacher,” confessed Laura Mueller in an interview with ‘Sportskeeda’.
Mueller’s promotion invokes a cultural change in F1 through the Haas decision. The North American team has appointed Carine Cridelich as head of strategy. Other women have risen to the top management of F1: the German Hannah Schmitz, head of strategy at Red Bull, or the Spanish Margarita Torres, head of engines at Mercedes.
Some track engineers have gained extra celebrity in F1. For example, Gianpiero Lambiase and Peter Bonnington, famous for their discussions and ironies on the radio with star drivers Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, respectively. Until last year there was a Spaniard in this position, the Catalan Xavi Marcos, with Charles Leclerc.
#female #chief #engineer #Formula #driver
