Formula One’s sole American outfit Haas has announced that Laura Mueller will take on a new role in the upcoming season, becoming Esteban Ocon’s race engineer.
Haas have recently confirmed a series of changes to its structure. Among the changes is the promotion of Laura Mueller who will be promoted to the role of Race Engineer for new recruit Esteban Ocon.
Following a very difficult season in 2023, Haas had expected to continue to struggle last year. As a result of the struggles, team owner Gene Haas had elected to part ways with Guenther Steiner ahead of last season, and promoted Ayao Komatsu to the role of team principal.
Despite the low expectations, the American team achieved a much better performance throughout last year, with Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen constantly fighting for points.
However, both the German and the Danish driver left Haas at the end of last season, which means that the Kannapolis-based squad will embark on the last season before the sweeping technical changes with an all-new driver line-up.
Building on their seventh-place finish in the constructors’ championship last year – their best finish since 2018 -, Haas are looking to build on that in 2025 with one-time race winner Esteban Ocon and Ferrari junior Ollie Bearman.
Haas will implement a raft of changes across its structure, promoting Laura Mueller from her role as performance engineer to race engineer. She will become the first full-time female to take on the high-profile position of race engineer.
Commenting on the promotion of Mueller, Komatsu said: “She’s a pretty determined character. And then she’s very hard-working. 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.
“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’.
“She has a good work ethic such that when she finds the first solution, she knows that there’s 10 things, now you’ve got new questions to answer. Her determination is the one that impresses me the most.”
Komatsu contiued: “If you look at how many female engineers we have in the office, it’s definitely more than before. But it’s not like I chose Laura because she’s female.
“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.”
Ronan O’Hare has also been promoted from his role as performance engineer to race engineer for Bearman. Moreover, Mark Lowe will take on the newly-created role of sporting director, while long-time team manager Peter Crolla has departed.
Filling a position that has been vacant for a year, Francesco Nenci will become chief race engineer at Haas. In addition, Carine Cridelich is set to join the Kannapolis-based squad as Head of Strategy from rivals Racing Bulls.
