Meet the Race Engineers Behind the Top 10 F1 Drivers in 2024
Meet the Racing Engineers Behind the Top 10:-
F1 Drivers of 2024 Formula 1 is about much more than fast cars and talented drivers; Behind every great performance there is a technical team that plays a vital role, and the race engineers who are part of this team play a critical role. In 2024, partnerships between drivers and their engineers are poised to be as exciting as the races themselves.
Red Bull’s Dutch phenomenon Max Verstappen has a special relationship with race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. Originally linked to Sebastian Vettel, Lambiase has formed a partnership with Verstappen since 2016 and has maintained his position with Verstappen even as he moved into the role of Head of Engineering at Red Bull.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez relies on Hugh Bird’s expertise. Bird, who started his career as a simulation and analysis engineer for Red Bull in 2012, started to be Perez’s voice in 2021, that is, to help him in races.
Lewis Hamilton’s partnership with Peter Bonnington, commonly known as ‘Bono’, dates back to 2013. Since Hamilton’s move to Mercedes, Bono has made some memorable moments, including famously saying “It’s Hammer time”.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc relies on Xavier Marcos Padros as his race engineer. Hailing from Spain, Padros has amassed a variety of experiences, from his days with the BNC Racing Team to becoming Felipe Massa’s engineer at Williams Racing.
The name behind George Russell at Mercedes is Marcus Dudley. Since his days with the Marussia F1 Team, Dudley joined Mercedes in 2013 and has played a key role in the team ever since.
Italian engineer Riccardo Adami currently works for Scuderia Ferrari and took over with Carlos Sainz in 2020 following the departure of Sebastian Vettel. Adami, who started with Minardi in 2002, worked with names such as Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel, then became Sainz Jr.’s engineer in 2020 and has been with him ever since.
McLaren’s Lando Norris worked with two race engineers last year and the same trend is said to continue. McLaren’s team boss Andrea Stella stated that they implemented this rotation in order to reduce the workload of race engineers. That’s why both William Joseph and Jose Manuel Lopez Garcia worked together with the British pilot.
Chris Cronin is currently Fernando Alonso’s race engineer for Aston Martin. As well as working with Esteban Ocon during his Force India days, he also worked briefly with Sebastian Vettel. Daniel Ricciardo, always charismatic, returns to F1 in 2023, joining AlphaTauri (now Visa Cash App RB) and bringing in Pierre Hamelin as race engineer. Hamelin, who started with Lotus Renault GP in 2009, still operates in the same position. Valtteri Bottas’ current race engineer is Alex Chan. After working with Kimi Raikkonen in the Alfa Romeo F1 team, Chan was prepared to stay with the team to maintain his position.
These engineers are not only technical, but also vital partners for drivers, shaping strategies, tuning cars and providing emotional support at critical moments. It is possible to say that the dynamics between these duos in 2024 will affect the exciting story of the Formula 1 world, not only on the track.
