Laura Müller grew up with a simple ambition: to be part of Formula 1. Inspired by Michael Schumacher, she remembers Sundays spent watching races and dreaming of the paddock. With few clear routes into karting where she lived, the idea of driving at the highest level felt distant — so she made a different, determined choice: if she could not become an F1 driver, she would build a career around the sport instead.
At 18, after finishing school, Müller moved to Australia with little more than that plan. She studied mechanical engineering and began accumulating hands-on experience: a 2014 internship in the DTM (German Touring Car Masters) led to roles in endurance racing, further DTM work, the International Formula Series and Brazil’s Stock Car Championship. Each step broadened her technical skill set and race-floor experience.
In 2022 she reached out to then-McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl, an application that showed promise but was stalled by internal changes. Haas offered her a position as a performance engineer instead — a role centred on car setup and extracting lap-time performance. Her dedication and attention to detail caught the eye of Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu, and by 2025 Müller had broken another barrier: she became Formula 1’s first female race engineer.
As Esteban Ocon’s race engineer at Haas, Müller is the central technical link between driver and car. She gathers input from aerodynamics, tyres, vehicle dynamics and other departments, synthesizes the data and makes rapid, high-stakes decisions on strategy, setup and responses during races. “My responsibility is to make the decisions for my car,” she said in an interview. “I receive all the information from all the departments: from the aerodynamics people, the tyre people, the performance engineer, the vehicle dynamics. I then try to translate this information into a decision. I simply take a lot of decisions. And many of these decisions have to be taken very quickly.”
Her style is methodical. Müller prepares for scenarios in advance because race-day emergencies leave no time for deliberation. “A decision is always better than no decision. And if it’s wrong, then it was wrong. But I can only do that because I already have a considerable amount of experience in motorsport,” she explained. The calm decisiveness she brings to the pit wall reflects years of varied racing roles and hours of technical work.
Ocon has praised her early-season impact. After the first races of their partnership he said: “It’s great working with Laura. She’s truly an outstanding engineer. The number of hours she invests is very, very impressive.” Their first season together produced mixed results: Ocon scored 38 points across 24 races, finishing 15th in the drivers’ standings, while rookie teammate Oliver Bearman ended the year slightly ahead by three points.
Looking ahead, new regulations have increased the technical complexity of race strategy. With combustion engines and batteries each contributing roughly half of a car’s power, energy recovery and management over a lap — through braking, lift-and-coast, and gear changes — are now critical. That makes the driver-engineer relationship more intensive and raises the stakes for real-time decisions, an area where Müller’s meticulous preparation and operational focus are especially valuable.
Müller has also become a public figure for women in motorsport. At the season opener in Melbourne she and Red Bull strategist Hannah Schmitz were honoured by the “In Her Corner” campaign: Turn 6 at Albert Park was officially named after them as part of International Women’s Day recognition by Australian engineers and the Australian Grand Prix Corporation. Müller described the gesture as “an honour” and expressed the hope that it will inspire girls and young adults to pursue STEM careers. “It’s important to recognize women’s accomplishments in motorsport so far, and it’s great to be alongside Hannah for this,” she said.
Despite the attention, Müller prefers to keep the focus on her work rather than the spotlight. She remains committed to making the quick, informed calls that help the team compete and to using her platform to encourage more women into technical roles in motorsport.
From a childhood dream to the pit wall of Formula 1, Laura Müller’s path is a reminder that determination, technical skill and practical experience can open routes into the top level of racing — and that visible role models can help change who thinks those routes are possible.