Why Haas promoted Laura Müller to Ocon racing engineer

In a world of motorsport that aims to be more inclusive, the fight for women in the premier category is still present. While teams, drivers or managers try to invest in this cause as much as they can and wish, Haas has just contributed greatly by adding a big stone to the building.

The American team is currently in the middle of a major overhaul of its squad before the start of the 2025 season. It records the arrival of Mark Lowe as sporting director and welcomes into its ranks two new drivers, Oliver Bearman and Frenchman Esteban Ocon. While Bearman's race engineer has been announced in the form of Ronan O'Hare, previously Nico Hülkenberg's performance engineer, a new name will also appear alongside our national driver.

This is Laura Müller, promoted to race engineer by Esteban Ocon. She will be the first woman in the history of Formula 1 to occupy this position. In addition to the promotion of Laura Müller, Haas has also hired head of strategy Carine Cridelich, who will join the team on March 1 after leaving her current role at Racing Bulls.

The importance of Müller's appointment as a racing engineer within the world of motorsport has clearly not escaped Haas boss Ayao Komatsu, who stresses that the decision was made purely because of the capabilities of the young woman, rather than to give herself a good conscience.

“Laura Müller and Ronan O'Hare were both performance engineers”Komatsu said in a press interview to which Motorsport.com participated at the beginning of the week. “Ronan has more experience than Laura, as he was at Williams before, while for Laura, Haas is the first F1 team she has worked for.”

“But they both have potential and determination. So we decided to promote from within, because it sends a good message to everyone. Rather than looking for experienced big names from outside , we are promoting someone [qui] may not have enough experience to start, let's say, but has potential with good work ethic and good communication.”

“If you look at the number of women we have in the office, it's definitely more than before, but I didn't choose Laura because she's a woman. We don't care about nationality or gender , what really matters is what you can offer, how you fit into the team, how you can maximize performance And I think Laura is the right choice.”

“In terms of personality, Esteban is a very determined person”Komatsu explained. “From that perspective, I think they will be a driving force and their personalities mesh. When she sees a problem, she digs deep and doesn't stop at the first answer. You know, some people , when they find the first answer, stop digging and say 'oh, great, I found the solution' and move on. But no, she knows there are new questions that need to be answered. .”

“So her determination is what impresses me the most. She's still quite young, but she has experience and needs guidance and support, but with her work ethic I think she can progress pretty quickly.”

Laura Müller is German and does not hide her admiration for Michael Schumacher. She joined Haas in 2022, first as simulator manager, before moving up the ranks to performance engineer, then racing.

“Laura came to do the work on the simulator”Komatsu added. “She then competed in some Grands Prix. Then we rotated the performance engineers over the last two years. When it came to having a race engineer, she expressed interest [pour le poste]. And in terms of communication on the radio, it's very clear, very calm.”

“When I knew that Esteban was coming, I knew that in addition to the technical aspect, the personal aspect was very important, especially when you are a racing engineer. So I saw that the Laura/Esteban combination could work very well.”

Ocon has already met his new race engineer, just as Bearman met his. Last week, the drivers completed days of driving as part of TPC (Test of Previous Cars) tests at the wheel of a former single-seater from the team on the Jerez circuit. In a few days, the drivers will return to the Haas facilities in Italy to have their seats molded.

Comments collected by Alex Kalinauckas