Red Bull Ace Hannah Schmitz Reveals How She Puts Ferrari Strategists to Shame in 20 Seconds

Red Bull has a highly competitive car, a defending world champion, and a reliable F1 veteran in its ranks. One would think that it is the perfect formula for a world title, but no one wins a championship solely based on a fast car and a driver in F1.

To sip on champagne at the end of the race, a constructor needs to ensure that all pieces of the puzzle are in place and are functioning in sync. The driver in the cockpit is as much responsible for the triumph as the strategist on the pit wall making decisions in the blink of an eye.

This season, it has been Hannah Schmitz, the off-track hero for most of the glory that Red Bull has achieved in 2022 so far. The race strategist for car numbers 1 and 11 shared her thoughts about how her instinct can make or break a Grand Prix.

She said, “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 will come out of the pits. So you make that split-second decision. But then you’ve got like maybe 20 seconds, which sounds like hardly any time to us right now.”

“But in a race, you’re waiting to see if your decisions paid off and that can feel like a lifetime.”

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“So, I think that is something that we are obviously quite keen on at Red Bull, is the kind of make those decisions be the races because we are racing after all and that is something we love doing.”

“So, something that, historically I think, we’ve got a bit of name for.”

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After 13 races in the championship, we have now seen Ferrari miss out on the silverware a few times because of a sub-par strategy, which is also holding them back in their quest for the title. In the Podcast, the Red Bull mastermind also shared what helps her achieve a competitive edge over rivals.

She said, “I am definitely a planner and 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 have always packed for everything for me and my family the night before we are going out.”

“It’s the same in the race, I have always investigated a lot of different scenarios, thought about them and all the different outcomes and then you kind of have, a map of where you might be depending what happens in the race, and the unexpected.”

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“But something I have learned from being a race strategist is that you’ve just also have to very adaptable and able to kind of move with what happens with the race and not to be fixed with what your plan was. And that’s something I’ve got more and more experience in as I’ve been doing this job” 

Schmitz concluded by adding, “A tip that someone once told me is that if you just turn your hands over, so your palm face down. It just helps you be clearer and more commanding with what you’re saying.”

“So that is something, I sometimes did in the middle of the race to refocus me and set myself up.”

Presently, the raging bulls have an advantage of 97 points over the prancing horses. Do you think the strategy execution would be the differentiating factor in this title fight?