History at Haas: 'Nationality, gender don't matter, it's all about quality'

Next season, Muller will be in Esteban Ocon's ears when the Frenchman sits in the Haas for the first time. Komatsu expects the new race engineer to stand her ground against the experienced Frenchman. "Laura, she's a pretty determined character, and then she's very hardworking. Her work ethics are really, really good," Komatsu began.

According to the team principal, Muller and Ocon are a good match. "Esteban is a pretty determined character as well. So that side, I think the driving force, I think that personality matches pretty well. And then what she's really good at is, when she sees a problem, she digs deep and she doesn't stop at the first answer."

"So her determination is the thing that impressed me the most. But she's still quite young, she's still quite experienced, so really needs lots of guidance and support. But with that kind of work ethic, I think she can progress pretty quickly."

More and more women in Formula One

F1 celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2025, but only now Muller will become the first female race engineer. After women were hardly present in the F1 paddock for many years, that is now changing, Komatsu observes. "If you look at how many engineers we got in office, female engineers, definitely more than before

Still, the Japanese also underlined that Muller got her new role only on merit. "But it's not like I chose Laura because she's female. Nationality, gender, it really doesn't matter. What matters is what you can offer, how you fit into the team, how you can maximise the performance. I believe it's the correct choice," the team principal concluded..

This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sárközi

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