Written by Naira Tarek, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
Women have played an influential role throughout the history of motor racing. Many have taken to the wheels of motorsport machines, while numerous figures have worked tirelessly on the sidelines in various roles, shaping the racing world to the present day. Woman Spotlight Wednesday aims to take a look at the tales of these superwomen, who have surpassed various hurdles to reach where they are today.
For years, Formula 1 has always been seen and perceived as a male-dominated sport, with minimal presence of women. But, a huge development in 2025 will see a female step up in a new role.
Not at the wheel of a Formula One car, but the team and Esteban Ocon's seasonal destination.
It's the one and only Laura Müller. Not only is she breaking barriers but also she's rewriting the industrial rules of the engineering male-dominated stereotype.
Laura Müller, an outstanding German engineer with years of motorsport and automotive experience, is set to become the first female race engineer in F1 history.
On to the most important question now, how did Laura shape her way into motorsports? Let’s take a look back at her career so far.
Laura has motorsport experience since 2014 where she started as an intern in Phoenix Racing GmbH for eight months. She then moved to Josef Kaufmann Racing, and stayed as an engineer on the Formula Renault 2.0 in the NEC and Eurocup for nine months
In 2018, she jump started her career, becoming a Data Engineering Support employee for JS Engineering BVBA, mainly working on lap-time simulation with Chassissim. This is a crucial aspect of racing, as it revolves around data analytics, giving information where the driver currently stands by using as a performance metric.
Moving on to mid-2019, Laura became a race and performance engineer at DKR Engineering for the Le Mans Cup Race at Paul Ricard.
Her success was extremely visible to the eye, as data showed how she had managed to be a successful engineer that created optimal podium finishing results for two consecutive years in 2020 and 2021!
Müller’s early growth in the sport has led her to potentially become the first woman ever to be a race engineer in Formula 1. Not least is it for one of the most talented drivers on the grid!
From a cultural perspective, this is a huge step towards achieving a widely known Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) and gender equality. A woman being responsible for a well known driver on the grid, and in such a widely-anticipated motorsport series is a huge milestone within itself.
Müller graduated from the Technical University of Munich in 2015, majoring in Automotive Engineering, and then she followed it by taking her Masters from the same university for two consecutive years.
She is always climbing her way up the ladder with pure hard work and dedication, having joined Haas as an intern, and now becoming a race engineer.
She first started as a performance engineer for three years, up until her potential elevation to race engineer in 2025.
Müller was always engulfed and embedded within the motorsport industry, and has walked around from one place to another, making sure to leave a positive impact behind her.
She embarked on her motorsport work trip for ten years now, and reflecting back on those years advocates feelings of pride and joy.
Here’s a fun fact, Müller has always wanted to become a part of Formula 1! According to her interview with Haas F1 for the International Women in Engineering Day, she was always interested in the field of motorsport.
Heading to Australia made her heart and inner child rekindle with the potential of actually becoming a part of this world.
To see a woman successfully place her foot into a difficult sport, let alone one dominated by males, is extremely worth standing up for and applauding.
Another point worth mentioning, breaking down gender barriers in this sport has been increasing lately, and it’s no better sight than to see an institution changing its route towards a much better future!
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