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Job Interview: The person who retains observe of each single half on Max Verstappen’s automotive

Ed Hemsworth strides through the Red Bull Racing hospitality unit on a chilly Las Vegas night, blending seamlessly into the polo-clad army of mechanics, engineers and executives who make up one of the most successful teams in the history of Formula 1. But Hemsworth’s role — Race Parts and Lifing Controller — is a linchpin

Job Interview: The person who retains observe of each single half on Max Verstappen’s automotive

Ed Hemsworth strides via the Purple Bull Racing hospitality unit on a cold Las Vegas evening, mixing seamlessly into the polo-clad military of mechanics, engineers and executives who make up probably the most profitable groups within the historical past of Method 1. However Hemsworth’s position — Race Elements and Lifing Controller — is a linchpin, an invisible but indispensable thread that ties the manufacturing facility to the observe. The job of managing the 1000’s of elements used to construct a $15 million automotive calls for an obsessive degree of consideration to element and a deep love for the game. “It’s solely taking care of little bits of metallic and carbon,” Hemsworth instructed me, “however if you add all of it collectively, it may very well be the one factor that stops you from placing an engine on the automotive.”

Very similar to Max Verstappen, the driving force Hemsworth has labored with over the previous 4 years, F1 wasn’t only a profession aspiration — it was a household legacy. And like Verstappen, Hemsworth’s father instilled in him a relentless drive for perfection. “My dad was the testing supervisor at Arrows within the ’90s,” Hemsworth recalled. “I put all of [my success] all the way down to what he taught us as children: if you’re 12 years previous raking grass within the backyard and he tells you the piles are too far aside, you are like ‘what the hell?’ However now I look again on it and notice I’ve gotten to the place I’m by being a little bit of a perfectionist and a workaholic.”

Ed Hemsworth joined the team in 2021

Ed Hemsworth joined the crew in 2021

Picture by: Purple Bull Racing

The teachings realized in his childhood backyard ready Hemsworth for the all-encompassing calls for of Method 1. “I used to be used to my dad not being round a lot of the time … it is a exhausting life and it may be troublesome to handle stuff at house, however spending your Sunday on the grid and doing the pit stops is simply the very best factor on the planet. I would not be the identical particular person if I used to be away from the observe.” (That dedication hasn’t gone unnoticed: within the brief time since we spoke in Las Vegas, Hemsworth has been promoted. His youthful brother, Oscar, impressed to hitch the racing crew after seeing Hemsworth’s ardour for the position, stepped into his footwear.)

“I can identify each half quantity, the outline, and what number of we’ve obtained.”

So what precisely does the job of a race elements and lifing controller entail? As Hemsworth places it, “I’m the primary hyperlink to the manufacturing facility for elements and operations.” He primarily works on Verstappen’s aspect of the storage, however gives help to his counterpart on Purple Bull’s second crew — quickly to be Liam Lawson’s — within the occasion of a crash. “I ensure that we’ve obtained all the fitting elements on the observe, handle what bits we’re eradicating and including every week, and make sure that all of it will get there on Wednesday in order that when the mechanics flip up on Thursday to arrange the automotive, it’s prepared.” And if — like me — you’re questioning what the “lifing” a part of his job entails, in an F1 context, it’s the method of evaluating the sturdiness of a element or half. As in, its lifespan.

Ed Hemsworth much more literally supporting Max Verstappen

Ed Hemsworth rather more actually supporting Max Verstappen

Picture by: Purple Bull Racing

For Hemsworth, each season begins lengthy earlier than testing, with a reset of the crew’s elements system. “All the things will get taken out of the cupboards and also you return to zero. You’ve clearly obtained all the usual nuts and bolts which you will preserve yearly since you all the time want inventory of these, however we fully rethink the structure of the cupboards and regularly attempt to enhance. As soon as you have began racing, you do not have time to do the admin or have as a lot time within the manufacturing facility.” That meticulous preparation is crucial: the processes established in preseason will proceed via to the ultimate race in Abu Dhabi.

When Hemsworth hits the highway, he’s additionally tasked with guaranteeing each nut and bolt is accounted for in compliance with FIA laws. “We’ve to declare each half that we run due to the price cap, so one of many largest features of our job is ensuring that when the FIA seems at our automotive on a Sunday evening, we are able to show all of the elements that we ran,” he mentioned. “We ensure that the pc model of the automotive matches the bodily vehicles within the storage all through the weekend.” At this level in his profession, Hemsworth is an encyclopedia. And if he’s doing his job completely, no one would know he’s there. 

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“I can identify each half quantity, the outline, and what number of we’ve obtained,” he mentioned with a touch of satisfaction. “The mechanics do an incredible job, and after they flip round and say, ‘I would like my subsequent bit on the ground,’ we needs to be invisible behind them, and they need to by no means know we’re there,” he defined. “If one thing breaks on the automotive, and the blokes haven’t even needed to come and ask, or they haven’t even had to consider it being changed and it’s there behind them — that’s my job finished effectively.” 

“It’s incredible to have been on the journey with Max for all of his championships,

“It’s unimaginable to have been on the journey with Max for all of his championships,” he mentioned

Picture by: Purple Bull Racing

Hemsworth’s initiation into the game was a trial by fireplace. He joined the crew in 2021 on the peak of Verstappen’s rivalry with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. “I used to be nonetheless so inexperienced and was going to races not absolutely understanding how issues labored, however I needed to stand up to hurry rapidly as a result of we had been preventing with Mercedes and crashing into one another,” he mentioned. Silverstone 2021 — solely the tenth race of Hemsworth’s profession — stays etched in his reminiscence as his hardest day on the job.

“It was the worst crash anybody right here had ever seen,” he mentioned of Verstappen’s lap-one tangle with Hamilton, which despatched the Dutchman hurtling into the barrier at 180mph. “Once you’re sweeping up elements of the automotive that our driver sat in, there’s the conclusion that we’re not simply messing round with toys right here. This is not a recreation the place you possibly can press the reset button, that is individuals’s lives — and it was a large eye opener.” 

Regardless of the challenges of the season, which noticed Verstappen clinch his maiden world title on the eleventh hour in Abu Dhabi, Hemsworth is grateful for the robust initiation. “2021 was an incredible expertise that set me on this path. If 2023 was your first 12 months [at Red Bull], you’d most likely be considering, ‘‘everybody ought to do that racing factor.’”

The previous few seasons have been outlined by Purple Bull’s dominance, however 2024 introduced new challenges. “It was much more troublesome. Even in the direction of the tip of the season, once we’d usually [continue with the same setup], we had been doing extra each week to attempt to preserve the aggressive edge,” Hemsworth mentioned. “In 2023 we had been so good that it obtained a bit simple. The automotive was inherently fast in every single place we went — we rolled it out the door on Friday morning and we’d be 20 seconds up the highway,” he mentioned. “Now we’re preventing each week, but it surely’s good for everybody as a result of the [competition] is what retains us all right here.”

Hemsworth is also a member of the pit crew

Hemsworth can be a member of the pit crew

Picture by: Purple Bull Racing

Although Purple Bull completed third within the constructors, Verstappen maintained his lead over Lando Norris to safe his fourth world championship. Hemsworth is unequivocal in his reward for the driving force, whom he describes as the best of all time. “It’s unimaginable to have been on the journey with Max for all of his championships, and to say you had been a part of that, even simply by being trackside,” he mentioned. “We deal with him like a standard member of the crew as a result of the minute the drivers step out the door, they’re these superheroes … it have to be so troublesome to be placed on such a pedestal.” 

Hemsworth has gotten his personal style of fame, albeit on a a lot smaller scale, due to Netflix’s Drive to Survive and the F1 broadcast. “We most likely all play as much as the cameras somewhat bit, and also you do suppose behind your head, ‘that is superior,’” he admitted. “It’ll be good enjoyable to indicate your grandchildren in 50 years’ time.”

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Most of his display screen time comes in the course of the race when he takes on his different job: as rear jack man on Verstappen’s pit crew. “I really like doing pit stops. It’s the one time we are able to actually affect the race end result, so there’s numerous adrenaline. We’re not skilled athletes, but it surely’s good to really feel such as you’re leaned on by the driving force and by the crew,” Hemsworth defined. 

Ahead of the 2025 season, Hemsworth was promoted to Red Bull's Race Team Coordinator

Forward of the 2025 season, Hemsworth was promoted to Purple Bull’s Race Crew Coordinator

Picture by: Purple Bull Racing

Contemplating the significance positioned on pit stops (Purple Bull’s quickest cease in 2024 was 1.90 seconds), the entire course of is surprisingly advert hoc. “There isn’t any coaching for it. You’re mainly requested, ‘Do you need to have a go at that?’ Then you definitely mess it up for a few weeks earlier than you discover your rhythm,” Hemsworth instructed me. “As soon as you have finished it 1000 occasions it turns into muscle reminiscence, however there’s nonetheless that nervousness initially of each race.” 

As Hemsworth steps into his new position as Race Crew Coordinator, his focus is shifting from the technical trivialities to the broader problem of managing relationships and operations throughout the crew. “I really like the technical aspect of issues, and I feel I’ll miss that, however stepping again to see the larger image of Method 1 as a sport is thrilling,” he mentioned. Impressed by his father, Hemsworth desires of changing into a crew supervisor in the future, however he’s conscious about the challenges that accompany life within the pit lane. “In some unspecified time in the future, there’s going to be a pull house, and children and household will take precedence. However in the intervening time, I’m all-in and nonetheless need to be trackside. I need to win championships and assist push the crew ahead.”

On this article

Emily Selleck

Method 1

Tradition

Max Verstappen

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Purple Bull Racing

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