Haas claimed a Formula One milestone on Tuesday with Laura Mueller appointed as the sport’s first female race engineer, working with experienced French driver Esteban Ocon.
Race engineers are the immediate point of contact for F1 drivers during the heat of battle, with some of them becoming well known personalities in the sport for their radio exchanges broadcast around the world at key moments.
German Mueller is one of two women taking on new roles at the U.S.-owned team, with Carine Cridelich joining from Red Bull-owned Racing Bulls (previously RB) on March 1 as head of strategy.
British rookie Oliver Bearman will have Ronan O’Hare as his race engineer, like Mueller promoted internally.
“Her work ethic, determination and technical understanding is very good so we believe that she’s the right fit for Esteban,” Komatsu told reporters in a video call.
Both race engineers worked with their drivers at a test of previous cars last week and the boss said they had made a good start.
Haas, who finished seventh overall last year, have also appointed Francesco Nenci as chief race engineer and Mark Lowe as sporting director.
Former Ferrari engineer Andrea de Zordo is the technical director with Tom Coupland, seconded from Ferrari in 2021, the chief designer.
“The reason we changed the personnel was because I felt we left too much points on the table last year,” said Komatsu.
NEW PARTNERSHIP
Ocon and Bearman are forming an all-new partnership after the departures of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen.
Bearman, 19, has raced three times, impressing on his debut with Ferrari last season when he finished seventh in Saudi Arabia as a reserve stand-in for appendicitis-stricken Spaniard Carlos Sainz.
Komatsu said the team would be looking for continuous improvement, with the drivers working together to push each other and raise overall performance.
If Ferrari eventually came calling for Bearman, who has come through the Italian team’s driver academy and is seen as a prospect for the longer-term, then it would be taken as a compliment, he added.
Ferrari have signed seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton, who turned 40 this month, from Mercedes on a multi-year contract taking the Briton into Formula One’s new engine era in 2026. He started at Maranello on Monday.
“The fact that we’ve got two years solid with Ollie, provided nothing happens with Lewis and Charles (Leclerc) at Ferrari is great,” said Komatsu.
“So if we work together and make improvements together such that at the end of ’26 Ferrari insist that they want to have Ollie in their car, that must be a compliment to us.
“These two years we have got with Ollie we are determined to make it work and if we get to the stage where Ferrari is happy enough to take Ollie for ’27 we’ve done a good job.”
