One member of the redesigned Haas racing team has made history.
With her promotion to race engineer by Haas on Tuesday, Laura Mueller will become the first woman in Formula 1 history to lead an engineering team.
Mueller will serve as race engineer for driver Esteban Ocon, who will start with Haas when the 2025 campaign begins in March. Ocon had spent the last four years with the Alpine F1 team.
As race engineer, Mueller will be Ocon’s main radio contact and will be responsible for evaluating the car’s performance.
He has been with Haas since 2022 and was promoted from his previous position as an operations engineer.
“He is a very determined character,” Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu told the F1 website. “And he works very hard. The way he works is really good.
“… And in terms of looking at the intelligence of the person, Esteban is a very determined character. So in that aspect, I think the driving force, I think the personality matches very well.”
As part of its overhaul, Haas also lured Carine Cridelich from Racing Bulls to become the team’s head of strategy in March. Ocon and Ollie Bearman are the two new drivers who have signed with the team. Ronan O’Hare has been promoted to race engineer for Bearman.
Haas enjoyed one of his best seasons in 2024. Its seventh-place finish in the constructors’ championship was the second-best finish in team history, while its 58 points were the team’s most since 2018.
The 2025 F1 season will begin with the Australian Grand Prix, which will start on March 16 in Melbourne.
–Field Level Media