Let the mind games begin.
When Red Bull Racing sent Hannah Schmitz up to the Qatar Grand Prix podium to collect the constructors trophy on the behalf of the team, you could be sure it was about more than just recognising the contribution of a hardworking member of staff.
Schmitz has been part of Red Bull Racing’s strategy team since 2011, during which time she’s had a hand in five constructors championships and seven drivers titles. As principal strategy engineer since 2021, she’s been involved in every one of Max Verstappen’s triumphs as well as the team’s dual constructors crowns in 2022 and 2023.
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Qatar wasn’t her first podium appearance, having collected a trophy on behalf of the team at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix after switching Verstappen to an aggressive three-stop strategy that won him the race.
Pitting Verstappen on lap 7 in Lusail won’t even rank among her most inspired strategy calls — after all, 18 of 20 drivers made their first stops behind the safety car, nine of 10 teams all thinking exactly the same thing.
But her appearance on the podium shouldn’t be understated in this title fight.
It was a message, directed to McLaren, far less sophisticated than the algorithms and formulae she’s sued to dealing with in her line of work.
‘Where were your strategists today?’
As much as Schmitz’s correct call to pit Verstappen won him the race to give him a shot at the title at this weekend’s finale, McLaren’s call to pit neither driver from first and third positions certainly lost it.
It was a baffling decision that in hindsight proved inexplicable, McLaren’s in-race justifications melting away the moment they met external scrutiny.
“Pre race that was exactly when our safety car and virtual safety car windows opened, and that was the plan,” Schmitz told Swedish broadcaster Viaplay of the decision to pit on lap 7.
“There’s such an advantage to pitting under a safety car when you’ve got to do the two stops. To us that was a clear thing we should do, and I guess a lot of the pit lane felt the same.
“But obviously on that in-lap we were hearing, ‘Oh, McLaren are staying out’. Everyone’s like, ‘Are you sure? Are you sure you want to pit?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I really think so!’ I thought definitely that was the right thing to do.”
Asked whether McLaren missed the obvious call because it was too focused on keeping the playing field level between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris — that is, because double stacking in a busy pit lane could have cost Norris several positions — Schmitz suggested it was a possible explanation.
“I think they’re in a very difficult situation where they obviously want to treat the drivers fairly,” she said. “I guess we’re in a position to take advantage of that.”
And you can bet Red Bull Racing will do exactly that.
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It’s not just that the team can nakedly prioritise Verstappen, having built itself entirely around him for almost a decade.
It’s that this is RBR territory.
While the team has lost some of its disrupter credentials as it’s progressively become part of the F1 establishment, its racing posture remains fundamentally provocative. It thrives on taking the aggressive route and putting rivals under pressure.
Consider the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix, where Verstappen was put on a super-aggressive three-stop strategy in a bid to disrupt what otherwise would have been a comfortable McLaren cruise to a one-two finish.
Despite not having the car speed to compete with Piastri and Norris, the Dutchman came close to splitting them, making the McLaren pit wall sweat its way through the afternoon in Barcelona.
It was a masterclass in understanding the data and knowing how it interacts with instinct — in understanding that human beings are also making opposing calls on pit walls down the lane.
This is a more indicative example of Red Bull Racing’s grand prix approach than the Qatar slam dunk — more indicative of Schmitz’s influence on how Red Bull Racing competes in Formula 1.
Schmitz is a Red Bull Racing lifer, having joined the team for her first job after completing her master’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Cambridge.
Her original role was as a modelling and simulation engineer, but it quickly became clear that racing rather than vehicle behaviour was her calling. In just 18 months she repositioned herself inside Milton Keynes to become a senior strategy engineer, a role she held for a decade, before being promoted to principal strategy engineer in 2021.
It was a trailblazing path in the skewed-male world of Formula 1.
“I think there’s a lot of people that initially maybe don’t have the confidence in you to do the job,” she told the Red Bull website.
“As a strategist you have to tell a lot of people what to do and they’ve got to listen to you, so it’s building up that trust, and I think as a woman unfortunately that was harder, but now I have that respect, and I hope other young women who want to get into the sport will see that you can do it, can embrace it, and we’ll see more diversity.”
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While Schmitz has been among the most prominent women in pit lane for more than a decade, several female engineers promoted to similarly influential positions over the last 10 years.
Bernie Collins headed up Force India and Aston Martin’s strategy team in 2015–22, and Ruth Buscombe Divey did likewise for Sauber in 2016–24. Both now hold high-profile roles in broadcasting, the former on Sky Sports UK and the latter on F1 TV.
This year Haas promoted Laura Mueller to the role of race engineer for Esteban Ocon. She’s the first woman to hold that role in Formula 1.
Schmitz’s podium appearance in Qatar will have upped her profile considerably, but more important than that is the role it could play in delivering her team a ninth drivers championship.
Abu Dhabi isn’t typically a strategic thriller, and the last 10 editions of the race have been won from pole position.
But that doesn’t account for the effects of immense championship pressure — something Red Bull Racing innately understands as a grandee of the modern era. It’s been here before and it’s walked away with trophies.
Schmitz knows how to win on F1’s biggest stage.
With McLaren evidently at least partly preoccupied with keeping Piastri and Norris operating within the team’s understanding of fair racing, Red Bull Racing will be out to apply maximum pressure in the hope of causing more cracks.
It could be another night the right call — or the wrong one — ends up deciding victory.