Hannah Schmitz is the architect of Red Bull’s strategies, which has already amassed nine wins in 13 races on the calendar. Photo courtesy of Formula 1
“I have no power!”. the desperate cry of Max Verstappen Saturday in qualifying it resounded in the Red Bull paddock and in the head of its strategy engineer, Hanna Schmitz. Since, developed the plan for the Dutchman to go from the tenth place where the Hungarian Grand Prix started to the victory of the last race before the summer break, which will last until the race in Spa, the last weekend of August.
Chief Strategy Engineer Red Bull cataloged that victory of the current champion and tournament leader as “one of the best of the season” and also explained why they decided to start on soft tires with both Verstappen (10th) and Checo Pérez (11th), who finished the race in fifth place.
In the program Any Monday guided from Sky SportsSchmitz revealed that starting the race on soft was not the original plan: “From those positions, perhaps one of the most classic strategies to do is to start with the harder tire and last much longer, especially since overtaking in Hungary is much more difficult, so this was our plan. But we had also talked a lot earlier. of the race if the conditions were a bit wet and very cold we could consider the soft tire as an alternative, because in those conditions it could be better ”.
“On the grid, both drivers clearly said they barely had any grip even though they already had soft tires. Race engineers say ‘we don’t think hard tires are a good idea’. We all discussed it at length with Christian (Horner, the Red Bull crew chief) and decided to switch to soft tires. Our concern was if we could make enough progress in that first stint to make it worthwhile, but obviously both riders made great progress, so it really was, “he added in what was (and ultimately was) the best strategy given. that there was also a little rain, unlike Ferrari’s choice of medium tires, which started 2nd and 3rd.
Yellow tires on Charles Leclerc’s car in the Hungarian pitlane. Photo EFE / EPA / ATTILA KISBENEDEK / POOL
As explained by the British He is 37 years old and has been on the team for 13, the final decision was made by her, but first she gathered the information provided by other engineers and the pilots themselves. “We are all a great team, so during the weekend it is very collaborative to listen to everyone’s different opinions and points of view because it is not always just numbers and data,” said Schmitz.
“The drivers too – he added – have a lot of sensations in the car, so let’s try to take that into account. Also the race engineers might look at different data than the strategist. So take all this information into consideration and discuss it, at the end of the day it’s a strategic call, so let’s make the last callbut we try to do it by using as much information as possible to make those decisions. “
The win in Hungary was Red Bull’s ninth of the season, in which Verstappen was responsible for eight. The other was that of the Mexican Pérez in Monaco, where the engineer was also the keyaccording to another strong team presence, Dr. Helmut Marko: “I am proud of the whole team, but especially of Hannah. Obviously he gets a lot of information, but he kept his cool and waited to make the right decision. He not only allowed us to win with Checo, but he also brought Max ahead of (Charles) Leclerc ”.
Sergio Pérez celebrates with Christian Horner on the podium in Monaco. Photo EFE / EPA / CHRISTIAN BRUNA
This time on the Hungaroring circuit, Schmitz admitted that a ninth win was not the goal at the start of the day, which made the result “even sweeter”. “It was actually one of the best of the season. Just because I think starting 10th in Hungary wasn’t something we expected. I was thinking maybe we could get on the podium. P3, P4 was also the best thing that came out of the simulations“, he confessed.
“So, it was extremely exciting. It was really only at the end of the race that I thought: “Wow, we could really win this one!” So, it was a lot sweeter where we started. “
The team’s website also congratulated the work done by the “strategy team”, and Hannah – whose photo appeared on the portal – and included it among the “five best moments of the Hungarian Grand Prix”.
Hannah watches the screens in the Red Bull pitlane. Photo: Courtesy of Red Bull Racing
“The original plan was for Max to start on hard tires, but due to the ambient temperatures it was decided that the Dutchman would start on soft tires. It was a brave decision, but it paid off. Max got off to a great start. well and finished fifth before exiting at the end of lap 16 with the first set of medium tires, he climbed up to 4th place before attempting the undercut for his second set of yellow tires, which worked very well and as the others stopped in the pits ahead of him, he was able to take the lead on lap 51, where he stayed until the checkered flag. “
The woman in Red Bull who says “what to do”
“As a strategist – he speculated some time ago in a chat on the team’s YouTube channel – I have the responsibility to tell many people what to do and they have to listen to you, so you have to build a bond of trust and I think that, as a woman, unfortunately it was the more complex. But now I have that respect and I hope other young women who want to get closer to the sport will see that they can do it, that they will accept it and so we will see more diversity. “
Schmitz, Cambridge graduate with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering and since 2009 in the Austrian team she has had to demonstrate that she is capable of making important decisions, like other women who occupy important positions in F1, where cars are currently banned for them. Although she started out as an intern in the modeling and simulation facility, she soon joined the strategy team.
“I worked in car dynamics, but I felt like I really wanted a more direct connection to racing and the department change has come,” said the Brit who became famous at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, when she took a risky decision that few would have dared, including Christian Horner, his boss. “She chose the right strategy and I felt the right thing to do was to invite her to collect the Constructors’ trophy. All the credit goes to Hannah,” the sporting director said at the time.
Hannah Schmitz with the Brazil trophy three years ago when it was the key. She had just become a mother and she incredibly felt she had to prove that she was worthy of her work. Photo: courtesy Red Bull
What happened to Interlagos? Schmitz called Verstappen on lap 55 during the first tire change caution despite the Dutchman being in the lead. The interruption, of course, was not foreseen and it was Hannah’s idea, who relied on her intuition for just two seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes). It worked for him, because although the Englishman won that position, five laps later, both on medium tires, Max overtook him at the restart and won, by more than six seconds over Pierre Gasly and with the then seven-time world champion. third place after a crash with Alex Albon, the other Red Bull driver at the time and then second with one lap to go.
“It was an incredible and special moment, the pinnacle of my career.. I had just got back to work after having my first child, so it was something very important to show me that I was full again to do the job, ”said the now 37-year-old engineer.
Even if a one-sided and surprising decision is not always given. Instead, the engineers’ task is done before and during the race, where information must be collected and synthesized in real time. Before arriving at the circuit, the simulations carried out by the team that leads with Will Courtenay – with whom he alternates presences on the circuits – implies what can happen with the tires, how overtaking could be and how they will adapt to the tracks and what race pace they will have as much their pilots as the others.
“It is also modeled if there are accidents in different points of the track and at different times of the race, the weather forecasts with light or heavy rain are considered … On the day of the race we can use this data to calculate the variables with low risk of error We can listen to the radio of each team, see the images on board of each driver, the statistics in detail and provide this information to the wall in seconds, without delay, it is as if we were all working in the same room “, in detail who is in those pre-race meetings made famous on Netflix (in the Drive to Survive series) and where pilots and engineers are joined by Adrian Newey and Christian Horner, the strongest men of Red Bull.
“I think our task,” admitted Schmitz, “is incredibly exciting. In a split second the decision is made and then another 20 passes, which don’t seem long, but in a race, sitting on the edge of a chair and waiting to see if what you did was worth it may seem like a lifetime. “
Source: Clarin
