Tuesday, Aug 2, 2022 • 12min
Hannah Schmitz: Oracle Red Bull Racing's trailblazing Principle Strategy Engineer
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Meet Principal Strategy Engineer Hannah Schmitz – part of the team making real-time race-winning decisions for Oracle Red Bull Racing. Hannah has been working with the team since joining as an intern in 2009. Together with Head of Race Strategy Will Courtenay and a skilled team, it’s their split-second strategy brilliance that was a large contributor towards Max Verstappen claiming his first FIA Formula One World Championship title in 2021.
We sat down with Hannah to find out more about how her and the team make their race-defining decisions.
This is a long read taken from Red Bull.com. Read this article at https://www.redbull.com/int-en/hannah-schmitz-oracle-red-bull-racing-strategist
https://www.redbull.com/int-en/hannah-schmitz-oracle-red-bull-racing-strategist
Discover more about Beyond the Ordinary and find every episode at redbull.com/beyondtheordinary.
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Speakers
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Hannah Schmitz
Sarah Schoenbeck
Transcript
Verified
Sarah Schoenbeck
00:06
Meet Principal Strategy Engineer Hannah Schmitz – part of the team making real-time race winning decisions for
Oracle Red Bull Racing
.Share
00:14
This is a long read taken from RedBull.com written by Joe Batchelor, read by Sarah Schoenbeck.
Share
00:26
If Hannah Schmitz is talking with her palms facing down, you know a number of race-defining decisions are being made that could change the outcome of the FIA
Formula One
World Championship.Share
00:37
It’s a technique used by the
Oracle Red Bull Racing
strategist to help her remain focused and on point during the excitement of a race.Share
00:47
As Principal Strategy Engineer, Schmitz and her team calculate and analyze billions of data points, whilst simulating scenarios that will define what will happen across a race weekend.
Share
00:59
Take the recent
Monaco
Grand Prix
where they orchestrated the pit-stop plan which ultimately led to Sergio Pérez taking the chequered flag and Max Verstappen
clinching a podium place.Share
01:11
It was a bold and proactive move that prompted Dr
Helmut Marko
to say afterwards: "We were all exceptional, but if we won it was mainly due to Hannah."Share
01:26
Being adaptable and having to instantly react to live scenarios is the part of Schmitz’s job that undoubtedly brings her the most pressure, but also the most adrenaline.
Share
Hannah Schmitz
01:37
It's incredibly exciting. You almost do sit on the edge of your seat when you've made a decision. Particularly in
Monaco
wasn't that clear how much ahead of the Ferraris
we would come out of the pits.Share
01:46
So you make that split-second decision, but then you've got maybe 20 seconds, which sounds like hardly any time to us right now, but in a race sitting there waiting to see if your decision's paid off that can feel like a lifetime.
Share
01:57
I think that's something that we're obviously quite keen on at
Red Bull
is to kind of make those decisions, be the racers, because we are race after all and that's something we love doing. So it's something that historically I think we've got a bit of a name for.Share
02:12
But it's also important that we don't always do that and that we judge the situation and then make the right call based on that so that we're not always, kind of, being aggressive for the sake of it but I think we get the balance right.
Share
Sarah Schoenbeck
02:25
In the cutting-edge technological era of
Formula One
, outcomes are decided in milliseconds and every single choice made could be the difference between winning or losing. When and how many times to pit, what tires to use, when to attack or maintain pace and when the drivers should work together are all crucial decisions based on data.Share
02:46
And no amount of research can ever fully prepare you for what transpires in a race full of yellow and red flags, crashes, penalties and unreliable weather. It’s a vocation that requires maximum concentration at all times.
Share
Hannah Schmitz
03:01
I'm definitely a planner. I like to prepare for everything in advance as much as I can, so have looked into all the different scenarios like, for example, at home, I've always like packed for everything for me and my family the night before when we're going out and then it's the same in a race.
Share
03:15
I've always investigated lots of different scenarios, thought about them, all the different outcomes and you kind of have a kind of map of where you might be, depending what happens in the race and the unexpected. But something I've learned from being a race strategist is that you've also just got to be very adaptable and able to kind of move with what happens in the race and not be too fixed on what your plan was. And that's something that I've got more and more experience in as I've been doing this job.
Share
03:43
I actually do quite a lot of meditation, which really helps me stay calm. So I do like a body scan before the race and then in the race, if things are getting quite intense, so we always think the role of the strategists is to stay calm and be the kind of level head if everybody else is getting excited about something, and a tip that someone told me once is if you just turn your hands over so your palms face down, then it just helps you be clearer and more commanding with what you're saying.
Share
04:10
So yeah, that's something I sometimes do in the middle of a race to just like refocus me and set myself up. I think staying calm is one of the most important attributes of a strategist.
Share
Sarah Schoenbeck
04:23
On the morning of a normal race day, Schmitz will attend meetings that are purposely shaped to feel more like discussions with the drivers, race engineers,
Adrian Newey
and ultimately Christian Horner
to consider the race plans.Share
04:37
Then it depends on whether she is on the pit wall at the circuit or back in the state-of-the-art Operations Room facility at Milton Keynes, something that is alternated every race with Head of Race Strategy, Will Courtenay.
Share
04:50
The mission is the same regardless of where they are positioned, but the roles are very different. On the pit wall the aim is to keep a clear head and look at the bigger picture of how to win the race.
Share
05:02
Back at the Operations Room, a team of strategists are running all the live calculations and simulations before providing all the actionable data to the team member on the pit wall so they can make the optimum decision alongside the race engineers.
Share
05:17
As Schmitz reveals, the NASA-style room has been a game changer.
Share
Hannah Schmitz
05:21
In terms of simulations, we actually run billions of them, so it's a lot, there's a lot going on and then yeah, decisions: it will just, it just depends on the race.
Share
05:31
But yeah, calculations and simulations; there's literally billions because before we've even got there we've had to simulate lots of different scenarios, lots of different tire behaviors, lots of different paces, and then throughout the weekend we're just like refining our models and getting closer and closer to what will actually happen in the race. And then even during the race, we're running a lot of simulations live. So yeah, it really is a lot.
Share
05:55
Here in the operations room we have quite a lot of the strategy department will be supporting, then, the one person that's sitting on the pit wall at the race. Everyone has quite defined roles; we know what we're looking at, so in the operations room there'll be one person looking at each driver specifically and they will know everything about that driver all the time: where they're going to come out, so they're completely just focused on those drivers.
Share
06:17
And then we also have students are in helping us listening to all the radio and we have someone coordinating that and all the video footage and passing on any information to us that's relevant. And then on the pit wall, we're kind of getting all the information about the drivers and we're looking at that big picture. So how can I win the race based on all this information?
Share
06:36
And the idea is that the person on the pit wall is free to do that. They don't have to think too much about all the data and what's going on behind the scenes. We'll get the results and then make those bigger decisions.
Share
06:47
And before the race even starts it's very routine. So we have, like, set meetings that we'll have every race with the drivers, with the engineers and with
Christian
and Adrian
to discuss what all our plans are and so everybody is really in the loop going into a race, but the race itself is never really routine.Share
07:05
Lots of things happen, but we've just got to be ready to adapt and know what we're going to do in those different situations. It means we've got access to so much information and we also have so much more people power, so we can be listening to every team's radio, we can be watching every team's onboard, we can be looking at all the numbers in detail and have that all passed on to the pit wall in seconds.
Share
07:29
It's like being in the same room, you know, there's no delays. So yeah, it's definitely an incredible room and just an incredible support on the pit wall. I don't think you'd be able to do the job without it.
Share
Sarah Schoenbeck
07:41
Schmitz’s route to the pit wall herself is one of dedication and trailblazing a path to her dream job.
Share
07:48
Even as a toddler she was interested in cars and how things worked, and that quickly turned into a passion for engineering while at school. A master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from
Cambridge University
followed, before she joined Red Bull Racing
as a student intern in 2009.Share
Hannah Schmitz
08:05
My family went actually massive
Formula One
fans, they are now. I did used to watch the races and I was just really interested in cars from a young age, just playing with cars from like three or four and interested in how things work.Share
08:18
So I really, really wanted to be an engineer and then I was fortunate to go to a school that was really encouraging of engineering and gave you a lot of opportunities to kind of work with industry and do different projects. So we definitely knew that's what I wanted to do before university.
Share
08:32
At university, I think I found that obviously everyone wanted to work in
Formula One
that was doing mechanical engineering as that is the pinnacle, and I started to think: Oh, I don't remember, you know, who won that race in 1963 that everybody else does so I wasn't sure if maybe I deserve my place in Formula One
,Share
08:52
But then when I started applying for roles, I realised, you know, that's not what it's about. It's about thinking the right way and being the right kind of person and your enthusiasm and passion and that's how you get to work here and then yeah, stay here for 13 years.
Share
Sarah Schoenbeck
09:06
It took time to build the confidence and trust needed, something she hopes won’t be the same for the future women following in her footsteps.
Share
Hannah Schmitz
09:13
It is quite a male-dominated environment. There's definitely challenges that come from that in which I've, like, well hopefully I've overcome everything now. I would say I've never had any particularly bad experiences, but I think there're a lot of people that maybe don't have the confidence in you to do a job.
Share
09:29
As a strategist, you've got to tell people what to do and they've got to listen to you and so it's building up that trust. and I think unfortunately as a woman that was harder, but now I'm there, I've got the respect and everything and I hope that other young women who want to get into the sport will see that you can do it and will embrace it and we'll see more diversity.
Share
Sarah Schoenbeck
09:50
She is certainly a recognizable face to F1 fans after being beamed around the world at the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2019, when she made the call to pit
Verstappen
for a third time despite knowing he would initially lose the race lead.Share
10:05
When the move resulted in the Dutchman winning, Schmitz was asked to step on the podium alongside
Verstappen
to collect the Constructors Trophy.Share
Hannah Schmitz
10:13
That was just an incredibly special moment and the pinnacle of my career. I'd actually just come back to work after having my first child, so that was quite a big thing for me to prove that I was still here and could still do the job well as welland it was just an incredible experience.
Share
Sarah Schoenbeck
10:30
During her 13 years with the team she’s worked with the majority of drivers in the team’s history and is currently enjoying collaborating and answering the questions of Pérez and Verstappen who are both fully engaged and committed to understanding the strategies presented to them.
Share
Hannah Schmitz
10:45
They're both definitely very interested in understanding the strategy and the plans you're putting forward. They're also really interested in all the kind of pace analysis and everything that's going on and they ask a lot of questions. So they're definitely engaged.
Share
10:59
I would say though, I think I've never worked with a bad driver or one that's not interested because at the end of the day the strategy can have a lot of impact on the race. The race engineers obviously work really closely with their individual drivers, they understand them and how to give them the information they need.
Share
11:15
As strategists we also then brief them, so we have briefings throughout the weekend. The main ones being the pre-qualifying and the pre-race. We find it's good for it to be more like a discussion, so we'll say this is our plans and we'll ask for people's opinions on things and make sure people are involved and know the reasoning behind things we're going to do because we find it really useful to be able to work as a team and get the most points as a team.
Share
11:38
So that involves the drivers working together and being on board with all the plans, so that's something we talk about a lot
Share
Sarah Schoenbeck
11:47
The 2022 F1 Season is gearing up to be another classic, with the team locked in absorbing battles with their rivals in both the driver and constructors championships and with every race full of excitement and unpredictability, there's only one thing we know for certain.
Share
12:05
With Hanna Schmitz and her team calculating decisions,
Oracle Red Bull Racing
will have all the information they need in the palm of their hand.Share
12:17
This article was taken from RedBull.com. For more episodes like this one, follow Beyond The Ordinary wherever you get your podcasts.
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Sarah Schoenbeck
Hannah Schmitz