HANNAH SCHMITZ Calls Out F1’s Role Model Gap Ahead of Strategy Chief Role

March 14, 2025

• HANNAH SCHMITZ is stepping up to Red Bull’s strategy chief role in 2026 after Will Courtenay couldn’t negotiate an early McLaren release, but she’s already one of F1’s most visible female figures having masterminded some of the team’s biggest victories.
• SCHMITZ revealed her evolution from wanting gender to be invisible at work to recognizing the critical need for female role models, stating “we do need to be role models and kind of shout about how great the job is” because diversity improvements are taking longer than expected.
• Her blunt assessment hits the mark: “There still aren’t really that many role models” and “you don’t have to be a middle-class white man to be able to do the job” – exactly the kind of direct accountability we need from influential women in the paddock.

australian grand prix, formula 1, red bull racing, strategy engineering