Laura Müller is the voice in the ear of Formula 1 driver Esteban Ocon. The German is the first racing engineer in the motorsport king class. However, she does not experience a measure.
Even as a child, she wanted to go to Formula 1. And then also compete against Michael Schumacher. This dream has not completely fulfilled. And yet Laura Müller writes from near Konstanz on Lake Constance, history in the premier class of motorsport.
There are about ten minutes in the first free training of the new season. The radio is on, Esteban Ocon is on. One of the two new drivers at the American Haas team. Everything is going well, he says. “Copy”, it comes from the other end. It is the voice of Laura Müller. Since this season, the engineer for vehicle technology has been the voice in the Ocon’s ear. She is the first woman to make it to the racing engineer in Formula 1. So somehow she is a bit in the cockpit.
Praise from driver Ocon for the new engineer Müller
She thinks she thinks that she is the first woman as the first woman. “But when girls and women see me on TV and think that they can achieve that, it makes me pretty happy,” said the 33-year-old in an interview with the racing team. Personally, however, she only wanted to concentrate on “doing a good job and getting the best for the team and out of the car”.
Far from the German homeland, she was in Melbourne on Friday in her new role for the first time on a Grand Prix weekend. “Laura is super motivated from the first day,” says Ocon. The Frenchman did not have to think long when he was asked whether it was a difference to have a female voice on the radio. “No, that makes no difference.”
Laura Müller is the first woman to work as a racing engineer in Formula 1 – and works together at Haas with driver Esteban Ocon
However, the new duo did not experience a measure: Ocon took the penultimate place in both training sessions, only teammates Oliver Bearman was worse. So the opportunity to play their strengths. Laura Müller was determined and very hardworking. “And what she can really do is dig deep when there is a problem. She doesn’t listen to the first answer,” team boss Ayao Komatsu already emphasized.
Meaning for women in Formula 1
Müller’s promotion is a milestone in the history of women in Formula 1, this week wrote the racing series on her homepage. A story that is still manageable despite noticeable efforts in recent years. Only two women ever made it into the starting line-up: Maria Teresa de Filippis 1958 and Lella Lombardi in the 1970s.
The British Hannah Schmitz is currently in particular as a strategist at the Red Bull racing team. Regardless of the F1 Academy, Formula 1 only remains far from Formula 1 for young drivers with the former racing driver Susie Wolff as managing director.
So important is one Racing engineer
With Laura Müller, another woman is added to a significant post. Because nobody is more important for a driver than the racing engineer. Absolute trust, absolute reliability – and in the highest stressful situations.
A racing engineer is almost like a family member for a driver, emphasizes ex-formula 1 driver Ralf Schumacher: “You have a very strong, tight and even more private contact, also next to the racetrack.” To get to know better, Müller and Ocon completed a training camp in Geneva before the season.
Müller’s former dream: compete against Michael Schumacher
Laura Müller’s PS passion started early on. As a child, she was on the race track a few times. “I also grew up when Michael Schumacher grew up in Formula 1. So I looked Formula 1 every weekend and dreamed of becoming the first woman in Formula 1,” she said in an interview with the magazine “Auto Bild”.
Laura Müller came to the DTM through an internship, from there in Formula 1. 2022 she hired at Haas, initially as a simulator engineer, then as a performance engineer. And now she is the first engineer in the racing series that she has already dreamed of as a child.
