Bernie Collins: “Passion can drive you anywhere”

If you’ve ever tuned in to watch Formula 1 and heard a calm, confident voice breaking down complicated strategies, the chances are it was Bernie Collins.

Bernie, now a Formula 1 strategy analyst for Sky Sports F1 and F1 TV, previously served as a very successful strategy engineer.

Originally from Northern Ireland, she launched her motorsport career with McLaren as a trainee after earning her degree from Queen’s University Belfast in 2009. By 2012, she had progressed to the role of performance engineer, eventually leading the position full-time in 2014, where she worked alongside F1 world champion Jenson Button. In 2015, she moved to Force India, playing a key role in the team’s impressive fourth-place finish in the constructors’ championship the following year.

“I did not ever expect I would be in such a wonderful place,” Bernie tells Females in Motorsport. “I’ve always been fascinated with the automotive industry and in how things worked or how they came together.”

With a strong engineering background, Bernie was one of the three women in her cohort during university.

“From everyone I speak to, it's still a predominantly male degree, some courses better, some worse,” Bernie says. “But it is a struggle to get girls interested in engineering or to promote it in the right sort of way.”

Fortunately, the landscape is shifting.

“When I got to work at McLaren, there were very few girls when I started,” she says. “But over time, it’s really improved. What excites me now is the fact that, for Sky, 40% of our viewers are women.”

Bernie was Button’s performance engineer in 2014, a role that demands not just technical expertise but also a sharp sense of strategy and strong communication.

“I was very lucky because Jenson had a lot of experience,” she says. “So, he really knew what he wanted from the car.”

She would prep materials overnight, leave notes, and Jenson would go through everything.

“He was pretty good at going through it himself without me bothering him too much,” she says. “But no two drivers are the same. What’s important is how you build that relationship. You can’t just treat every driver the same.

“Some of us are motivated by hearing we need to work harder, and some of us are motivated by hearing we're doing a really good job. It’s about trying to know that person as best you can.”

Even after putting in the work to build trust with the driver and making informed calls during a race, it’s incredibly easy for fans to pin the blame on the strategist for a single misstep.

“I think scrutiny comes in anyway,” she says. “But I think in both directions. From the outside, you will have things that you've done that people will not see the reason for. And it's very easy after the pit stop to know that it should have been a different lap.

“Other times, you get a good result. It’s still important to shut out the noise, review the data, and learn from each decision.”

In such a high-pressure job, we’ve seen people from diverse backgrounds coming in.

“For strategy, there’s no one key strength; it’s about a mix,” she says. “The most important skills are teamwork and communication, because quick decisions require understanding the driver, tyres, and more, all while working closely as a team.”

Bernie resigned from her strategist position in 2022 and is now thoroughly enjoying her new role as a presenter with Sky Sports F1.

“It's been a really interesting transition,” she says. “On the pit wall, working for a team, you don't really understand what goes into making that TV.

“Now I'm getting this understanding of the background of what people do, how people watch it, how people enjoy it, what questions they have.

“The one thing I discovered is how far Sky Sports F1 reaches globally. We have fans who’ve watched Formula 1 for 30 or 40 years, and then there are those watching their first race.

“It’s about explaining enough for newcomers to understand, while still giving long-time fans something new. I’m also realising people are just starting to see how much of a team sport Formula 1 really is; before, the focus was mostly on the driver.”

Bernie has also authored a book titled How to Win a Grand Prix.

“It made me realise I had a lot of team knowledge that outsiders didn’t know,” she says. “It’s helped my presenting because now I notice things people probably don’t understand. Before, I’d ignore them, thinking everyone knew, but they don’t. The book helped me see what fans want to learn more about.”

From being an author to a strategist, she has lived it all. Her journey in F1 shows that if you’re passionate and willing to put in the effort, you can do pretty much anything.

What stands out is how much she genuinely cares about every role she takes on. With heart and hard work, doors can open in ways you never expected. It’s the kind of example that makes you want to keep pushing, no matter what.