Laura Müller Makes History as the First Female Race Engineer in Formula 1

In a groundbreaking move, the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team has promoted Laura Müller, who becomes Esteban Ocon’s new race engineer.

Müller joined the team in 2022 as a member of the simulator department. She later took on a role as a performance engineer and has now broken through the notorious glass ceiling, becoming the first full-time female race engineer in Formula 1.

However, Müller’s path into the industry wasn’t as concrete as one would assume.

“I first realised I had an interest in engineering basically about a year after I finished school,” Müller told Haas. “I wasn’t one of these people who knew what they wanted to do right after school, or even in school”.

This uncertainty is what pushed Müller to take a year in Australia to figure out what exactly she wanted to do. The vast array of supercharged cars on the continent eventually resulted in her rekindling her love for motorsport.

When Müller returned to Germany to attend the Technical University of Munich, she ended up studying automotive engineering with a focus on vehicle dynamics, particularly different types of engines. Müller achieved both a BSc and an MSc in Automotive Engineering. Ultimately, however, Müller knew that she only wanted to work in motorsport.

“I always watched Formula 1, so I never really studied mechanical engineering to work in car production or something…I always kind of admired the field of motorsport…”

Müller’s career in motorsport began in 2014 as a data and driver analytics intern with Phoenix Racing GmbH. Just over a year later, she became an engineer for Josef Kaufmann in Formula Renault 2.0 while also working in data engineering with JS Engineering BVBA, and later became a data engineer for Lucas di Grassi. Both positions were in the Brazil Stock Car Championship.

Müller then jumped into a one-race stint with DKR Engineering in LMP3 at Paul Ricard for the Le Mans Cup Race. She followed that with multiple LMP2 performance engineer positions with multiple teams, including one with DragonSpeed USA LLC. Following her almost four year stint in LMP2, Müller returned to JS Engineering BVBA as a data and performance engineer for three years.

In 2021, Müller moved to DTM with ABT Sportsline GmbH as a race engineer—the same team as Sophia Flörsch! The following season, she moved to GT3 with Manthey Racing GmbH for almost two years before moving to MoneyGram Haas F1 Team in 2022.

Ayao Komatsu, the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team principal, was quick to highlight Müller’s character and work ethic.

“She's a pretty determined character, and then she's very hardworking. Her work ethic is really, really good” Komatsu told F1.

“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.”

Komatsu also made sure to emphasise that Müller’s promotion wasn’t due to her gender.

“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.”

Importantly, Müller isn’t the only woman to be promoted to what is typically a male-dominated role in Formula 1. Carine Cridelich will also join MoneyGram Haas F1 Team in March as Head of Strategy, coming from Visa Cash App Racing Bulls Formula One Team. There have also been a multitude of other women in other positions of power in Formula 1’s history. Bernie Collins and Ruth Buscombe Divey both held roles as Heads of Race Strategy, Hannah Schmitz is currently the Principal Strategy Engineer for Oracle Red Bull Racing, and Claire Williams served as the Deputy Team Principal for Williams Racing for seven years just to name a couple.

Müller’s advice for other girls and women looking to get into motorsport: “Take no crap!”

All images provided by Formula 1