Max Verstappen’s race elements supervisor on how he helped maintain the champ’s automotive (and title hopes) intact

Ed Hemsworth strides by means of the Pink Bull Racing hospitality unit on a cold Las Vegas night time, mixing seamlessly into the polo-clad military of mechanics, engineers and executives who make up one of the vital profitable groups within the historical past of Formulation 1. However Hemsworth’s function — Race Components and Lifing Controller — is a linchpin, an invisible but indispensable thread that ties the manufacturing unit to the monitor. The job of managing the 1000’s of elements used to construct a $15 million automotive calls for an obsessive stage of consideration to element and a deep love for the game. “It’s solely taking care of little bits of metallic and carbon,” Hemsworth instructed me, “however if you add all of it collectively, it might be the one factor that stops you from placing an engine on the automotive.”

Very similar to Max Verstappen, the motive force Hemsworth has labored with over the previous 4 years, F1 wasn’t only a profession aspiration — it was a household legacy. And like Verstappen, Hemsworth’s father instilled in him a relentless drive for perfection. “My dad was the testing supervisor at Arrows within the ’90s,” Hemsworth recalled. “I put all of [my success] all the way down to what he taught us as youngsters: if you’re 12 years outdated raking grass within the backyard and he tells you the piles are too far aside, you are like ‘what the hell?’ However now I look again on it and notice I’ve gotten to the place I’m by being a little bit of a perfectionist and a workaholic.”

The teachings discovered in his childhood backyard ready Hemsworth for the all-encompassing calls for of Formulation 1. “I used to be used to my dad not being round a lot of the time … it is a arduous life and it may be tough to handle stuff at residence, however spending your Sunday on the grid and doing the pit stops is simply the very best factor on the earth. I would not be the identical particular person if I used to be away from the monitor.” (That dedication hasn’t gone unnoticed: within the brief time since we spoke in Las Vegas, Hemsworth has been promoted. His youthful brother, Oscar, impressed to affix the racing workforce after seeing Hemsworth’s ardour for the function, stepped into his sneakers.)

“I can title each half quantity, the outline, and what number of we’ve received.”

So what precisely does the job of a race elements and lifing controller entail? As Hemsworth places it, “I’m the primary hyperlink to the manufacturing unit for elements and operations.” He primarily works on Verstappen’s facet of the storage, however offers assist to his counterpart on Pink Bull’s second workforce — quickly to be Liam Lawson’s — within the occasion of a crash. “I ensure that we’ve received all the best elements on the monitor, handle what bits we’re eradicating and including every week, and make sure that all of it will get there on Wednesday in order that when the mechanics flip up on Thursday to arrange the automotive, it’s prepared.” And if — like me — you’re questioning what the “lifing” a part of his job entails, in an F1 context, it’s the method of evaluating the sturdiness of a part or half. As in, its lifespan.

Ed Hemsworth way more actually supporting Max Verstappen

Photograph by: Pink Bull Racing

For Hemsworth, each season begins lengthy earlier than testing, with a reset of the workforce’s elements system. “All the things will get taken out of the cupboards and also you return to zero. You’ve clearly received all the usual nuts and bolts which you will maintain yearly since you at all times want inventory of these, however we fully rethink the format of the cupboards and regularly attempt to enhance. As soon as you have began racing, you do not have time to do the admin or have as a lot time within the manufacturing unit.” That meticulous preparation is essential: the processes established in preseason will proceed by means of to the ultimate race in Abu Dhabi.

When Hemsworth hits the highway, he’s additionally tasked with guaranteeing each nut and bolt is accounted for in compliance with FIA rules. “We’ve to declare each half that we run due to the price cap, so one of many largest points of our job is ensuring that when the FIA appears to be like at our automotive on a Sunday night time, we are able to show all of the elements that we ran,” he stated. “We guarantee that the pc model of the automotive matches the bodily automobiles within the storage throughout the weekend.” At this level in his profession, Hemsworth is an encyclopedia. And if he’s doing his job completely, no one would know he’s there. 

“I can title each half quantity, the outline, and what number of we’ve received,” he stated with a touch of satisfaction. “The mechanics do a tremendous job, and after they flip round and say, ‘I want my subsequent bit on the ground,’ we must be invisible behind them, and they need to by no means know we’re there,” he defined. “If one thing breaks on the automotive, and the fellows haven’t even needed to come and ask, or they haven’t even had to consider it being changed and it’s there behind them — that’s my job carried out nicely.” 

“It’s unimaginable to have been on the journey with Max for all of his championships,” he stated

Photograph by: Pink Bull Racing

Hemsworth’s initiation into the game was a trial by fireplace. He joined the workforce in 2021 on the top of Verstappen’s rivalry with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. “I used to be nonetheless so inexperienced and was going to races not absolutely understanding how issues labored, however I needed to rise up to hurry rapidly as a result of we had been combating with Mercedes and crashing into one another,” he stated. Silverstone 2021 — solely the tenth race of Hemsworth’s profession — stays etched in his reminiscence as his hardest day on the job.

“It was the worst crash anybody right here had ever seen,” he stated of Verstappen’s lap-one tangle with Hamilton, which despatched the Dutchman hurtling into the barrier at 180mph. “If you’re sweeping up elements of the automotive that our driver sat in, there’s the belief that we’re not simply messing round with toys right here. This is not a recreation the place you possibly can press the reset button, that is individuals’s lives — and it was a large eye opener.” 

Regardless of the challenges of the season, which noticed Verstappen clinch his maiden world title on the eleventh hour in Abu Dhabi, Hemsworth is grateful for the powerful initiation. “2021 was a tremendous expertise that set me on this path. If 2023 was your first yr [at Red Bull], you’d in all probability be considering, ‘‘everybody ought to do that racing factor.’”

The previous few seasons have been outlined by Pink Bull’s dominance, however 2024 introduced new challenges. “It was much more tough. Even in the direction of the tip of the season, after we’d usually [continue with the same setup], we had been doing extra each week to try to maintain the aggressive edge,” Hemsworth stated. “In 2023 we had been so good that it received a bit straightforward. The automotive was inherently fast in all places we went — we rolled it out the door on Friday morning and we’d be 20 seconds up the highway,” he stated. “Now we’re combating each week, however it’s good for everybody as a result of the [competition] is what retains us all right here.”

Hemsworth can also be a member of the pit crew

Photograph by: Pink Bull Racing

Although Pink Bull completed third within the constructors, Verstappen maintained his lead over Lando Norris to safe his fourth world championship. Hemsworth is unequivocal in his reward for the motive force, whom he describes as the best of all time. “It’s unimaginable to have been on the journey with Max for all of his championships, and to say you had been a part of that, even simply by being trackside,” he stated. “We deal with him like a traditional member of the workforce as a result of the minute the drivers step out the door, they’re these superheroes … it have to be so tough to be placed on such a pedestal.” 

Hemsworth has gotten his personal style of fame, albeit on a a lot smaller scale, due to Netflix’s Drive to Survive and the F1 broadcast. “We in all probability all play as much as the cameras a little bit bit, and also you do assume at the back of your head, ‘that is superior,’” he admitted. “It’ll be good enjoyable to indicate your grandchildren in 50 years’ time.”

Most of his display time comes through the race when he takes on his different job: as rear jack man on Verstappen’s pit crew. “I like doing pit stops. It’s the one time we are able to actually affect the race outcome, so there’s loads of adrenaline. We’re not skilled athletes, however it’s good to really feel such as you’re leaned on by the motive force and by the workforce,” Hemsworth defined. 

Forward of the 2025 season, Hemsworth was promoted to Pink Bull’s Race Staff Coordinator

Photograph by: Pink Bull Racing

Contemplating the significance positioned on pit stops (Pink Bull’s quickest cease in 2024 was 1.90 seconds), the entire course of is surprisingly advert hoc. “There is not any coaching for it. You’re principally requested, ‘Do you need to have a go at that?’ Then you definately mess it up for a few weeks earlier than you discover your rhythm,” Hemsworth instructed me. “As soon as you have carried out it 1000 occasions it turns into muscle reminiscence, however there’s nonetheless that nervousness initially of each race.” 

As Hemsworth steps into his new function as Race Staff Coordinator, his focus is shifting from the technical trivia to the broader problem of managing relationships and operations throughout the workforce. “I like the technical facet of issues, and I believe I’ll miss that, however stepping again to see the larger image of Formulation 1 as a sport is thrilling,” he stated. Impressed by his father, Hemsworth desires of turning into a workforce supervisor sooner or later, however he’s conscious about the challenges that accompany life within the pit lane. “Sooner or later, there’s going to be a pull residence, and children and household will take precedence. However in the intervening time, I’m all-in and nonetheless need to be trackside. I need to win championships and assist push the workforce ahead.”