Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu has confirmed a raft of staff changes have been made over the past few weeks - including the appointment of F1's first female race engineer. Laura Mueller has been promoted from her previous role as performance engineer to become the race engineer to Esteban Ocon. Similarly, Ronan O'Hare has also stepped up from performance engineer to become race engineer to Ollie Bearman. The duo are among several internal moves, particularly trackside where Komatsu felt his team required "huge changes" as he felt it was "one of the weakest areas" he noticed during his maiden season in charge last year, noticeably as the car became more competitive. Komatsu has also heavily recruited, bringing in 20 new staff in January. Amongst them is Mark Lowe, the sporting director. Lowe previously worked for Haas as the operations and team manager. Francesco Nenci, previously Dakar performance team leader at Audi, has joined as chief race engineer. A significant hire is Carine Cridelich as head of strategy. She will join Haas on March 1 from Racing Bulls where she was race strategy engineer. "We were missing a chief race engineer last year because we couldn't find one," said Komatsu, speaking to invited media, including RacingNews365. "Francesco's got plenty of experience. "In terms of race engineers, we decided to promote internally. Laura, who was under Ronan, they were both performance engineers. "Ronan's got more experience than Laura. He was previously at Williams. Whereas Laura, Haas is the first Formula 1 team she's worked for. "They've both got good potential, good determination, so we decided to promote internally because that sends a good message for everyone as well. "Rather than going for big names from outside, to promote somebody who may not have the experience to start with, but has good potential, good work ethic, good communication, to support one another."
Komatsu pinpoints Ocon race engineer qualities
It is Mueller's appointment that is one of the most eye-catching, particularly as no previous F1 team has appointed a female to such a prominent role. Alongside Cridelich, it is another shot in the arm for F1 and speaks volumes regarding its push for diversity in recent years. Outlining the qualities that led to her promotion, Komatsu said: "She's a pretty determined character, she's very hard working, and her work ethic is really good. Her communication, the radio, etcetera, is very calm, very clear. "In terms of looking at things personality wise, Esteban is a pretty determined character as well, so on that side, the driving force, their personalities match 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. "Some people, when they find the first answer, they stop, thinking, 'Ah, great. I found the solution' and move on. "But when she finds the first solution, she knows there are 10 new questions to answer. "So her determination is what impresses me the most, but then she's still quite young, still quite inexperienced, so needs lots of guidance and support. "But with her work ethic, I think she can progress pretty quickly."
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