As the Haas F1 prepares to welcome Esteban Ocon for the 2025 season, they have undergone significant reshuffling of the team.
In addition to this, the team has made a milestone by appointing Laura Mueller as one of the engineers to work alongside the French driver, making her the first-ever woman to hold a position as an engineer in Formula 1.
Haas finished seventh in the Constructors’ Championship last year, their best finish since 2018, and they are looking to build on that success in 2025 with a new line-up that also includes Ferrari junior Ollie Bearman.
Laura will serve as one of the race engineers, acting as the immediate point of contact for the F1 drivers during the race, with some of them becoming well-known personalities in the sport due to their radio exchanges broadcast around the world.
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Hass boss Ayao Komatsu stated that Mueller, who joined the team in 2022, is the right fit to work alongside the new recruit Ocon who is joining from Alpine. He described her as a determined and hardworking individual.
“She’s a pretty determined character,” said Komatsu. “And then she’s very hardworking. Her work ethic is really, really good. She’s going to be Esteban’s race engineer.”
“In terms of looking at it personality-wise, Esteban is a pretty determined character as well. So that side, I think the driving force, I think that personality matches pretty well.”
Komatsu could not praise her enough, noting that despite her gender, he believes he has made the right choice because what truly matters is the quality of the work.
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“And then what she’s really good at is, when she sees a problem, she digs deep and she doesn’t stop at the first answer. Some people, when they find the answer, first answer, they stop there. They think, ‘Oh, great, I found the solution, move on,” he added.
“We don’t care [about] nationality, gender – it really doesn’t matter because what matters is work. How you can fit into the team, how you can maximise the performance. I believe it is the right choice.”
In addition to boosting their team this season, Ronan O’Hare has been promoted from his role as Performance Engineer to Race Engineer for Bearman, who stood in for Kevin Magnussen as a race driver twice in 2023 and has already embedded himself well with the team.
Francesco Nenci will also be joining the team as Chief Race Engineer, a role that has been vacant for a year.
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