Hannah Schmitz: the strategic mastermind behind Verstappen’s F1 success

Hannah Schmitz has been working in the background as chief strategist at Red Bull for years, but has received little to no attention or compliments outside of Red Bull until this season. This year has completely changed. Who is Hannah Schmitz and how did she end up at Red Bull?

Last weekend in Zandvoort, Red Bull once again stole the show by choosing the right strategy for Max Verstappen and ultimately winning the race weekend. Earlier this year, Red Bull also received praise for the strategic choices that were made, where Ferrari mainly got the wind from the front and often went wrong. Schmitz is responsible for these Red Bull strategic decisions, but how did she end up in that position?

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Youth

Hannah Schmitz, or Hannah McMillan as she was known in London when she was born, was at Croydon High School when she decided to attend Cambridge University in 2004. Even then, she had a penchant for cars and being an engineer, something she was able to express in two ways at Cambridge University. She followed the Mechanical Engineering course until 2009, a course that she would successfully complete with a master’s degree. She was also the leader of the Cambridge solar racing team. Under her leadership, the team made a first attempt to participate in the World Solar Challenge. In this way she was confronted with strategy and engineering at a young age. After 2009, the moment she finished her education, things went fast.

Red Bull

After obtaining her master’s degree, she immediately decided to do an internship at Red Bull Racing in 2009. She started out as a Modeling and Simulation Engineer at Red Bull Racing, where she quickly made an impression and kept getting better and better. In 2011, she was promoted within Red Bull Racing and became a Senior Strategy Engineer. She held this role until 2021, when she became Red Bull’s chief strategist.

Successful

Under her (partly) strategic leadership, Red Bull Racing had two periods of enormous success. When she started her role as Senior Strategy Engineer in 2011, Sebastian Vettel had already won a world championship in 2010. This would happen again in 2011, 2012 and 2013, partly under the strategic leadership of Schmitz. Vettel became world champion four times in a row, while Red Bull also won the constructors’ championship. Then a new era of cars began, also the end of Red Bull’s dominance. Vettel left for Ferrari after 2014, Mark Webber retired after the 2013 season, Mercedes proved to be the dominant team in the new era and Red Bull barely won any races until 2016.

Verstappen

In 2016, after impressing at Toro Rosso, Verstappen was placed alongside Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull Racing as a replacement for Daniil Kvyat. This turned out to be the right move, as during the 2016-2019 period, Red Bull got faster and faster and more and more victories were booked. However, the driver next to Verstappen had a lot of trouble (Ricciardo, Alexander Albon, Pierre Gasly), so challenging Mercedes was barely in it. Yet it was during this period that Schmitz’s name was really mentioned for the first time. During the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2019, one of the most memorable victories in Verstappen’s F1 career, Schmitz decided to bring in Verstappen for new tires after a late pit stop. Vertappen then won the race, and Schmitz was allowed on the podium for the first time. It was the first time that the F1 world really got a picture of Red Bull Racing’s chief strategist.

2021-2022

2021 was then the first season that Schmitz was truly Red Bull’s chief strategist. Last year, under the leadership of Schmitz, Verstappen immediately became world champion for the first time. It was Red Bull and Schmitz’s first championship since 2013. Also during the 2021 season, especially during the decisive race in Abu Dhabi, Schmitz made some fantastic strategic decisions that were decisive.

Yet her name is often mentioned in 2022, partly due to Ferrari’s strategic mistakes. This makes the almost flawless strategy of Red Bull Racing, for which Schmitz is responsible, more noticeable. In Hungary and Belgium, Verstappen was able to win the Grand Prix from P10 and P14 respectively. This was partly due to Verstappen’s qualities, Red Bull’s car and Ferrari’s mistakes. Nevertheless, Schmitz was also an important reason for Verstappen’s success during those two races, especially in Hungary. Schmitz is getting more attention in 2022 than she’s ever had, and it’s more than deserved.