Haas boss Ayao Komatsu explained the groundbreaking choice to team Esteban Ocon with Formula 1’s first female race engineer, Laura Muller, due to a strong personality fit.
Haas revealed Monday that Muller had been promoted to race engineer, working with Ocon, making her the first female to hold that position in the sport (and about time to).
Muller, hailing from Germany joined Haas in 2022 working on simulator duties before stepping up to performance engineer.
Holding a Masters in Automotive Engineering from the Technical University of Munich, Muller worked for ABT in DTM and Manthey Racing in GTs before moving to F1, where she has made history.
Ocon’s team-mate Oliver Bearman will also have a new race engineer, with Haas promoting Ronan O’Hare from within.
Kamotsu explained that promoting from within “sends a good message” throughout the team.
“Laura Muller and Ronan O’Hare, they’ve both been performance engineers,” Haas’ Team Principal explained (via Autosport).
“Ronan has got more experience than Laura – because he was at Williams before, whereas for Laura, Haas is the first F1 team she’s worked for.
“But they’ve both got good potential and good determination. So, we decided to promote internally because that sends a good message for everyone as well.
“Rather than go for some big names with experience from the outside, promote somebody [who] may not have enough experience to start off with, let’s say, but has potential with good work ethic, good communication.”
Komatsu: Ocon and Muller ‘will be a driving force’
Komatsu spoke specifically about appoint Muller as Ocon’s race engineer, explaining that both are equally determined characters that he sees being a good fit.
“She’s a determined character and then she’s very hard-working,” he said, adding: “She has a very good work ethic.
“In terms of looking at the personality, Esteban is a pretty determined character as well.
“So from that side, I think they will be a driving force and their personalities match.
“When she sees a problem, she digs deep, and she doesn’t stop at the first answer.
“You know, some people when they find the first answer they stop digging and they say ‘oh, great, I found the solution’ and they move on. But no, she knowns that there are new questions to answer.
“So her determination is the one thing that impresses me the most.
“She’s still quite young yet she’s still quite experienced but needs some guidance and support, but with her work ethic I think she can progress pretty quickly.”
Komatsu went onto explain Muller’s trajectory at Haas, starting with simulator work, attending race events and then rotating with performance engineers.
When it came time to appoint a new race engineer: “[Muller] expressed her interest. And in terms of her communication on the radio, she is very clear, very calm.
“When I knew Esteban was coming – I knew as well as technical side, the personality side is very important, especially if you’re a race engineer,” added Komatsu.
“So I could see the Laura/Esteban combination that could work really well.”
Muller and Ocon have already started work together, with Haas conducting a TPC programme in Jerez last week.
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