'Pressure is for tyres' - Why a race engineer's bond with a driver can make or break performance

Arguably one of the most important relationships in motorsport, the trust between a driver and their race engineer is a bond that can make or break their performance. Forged in the hours away from the races, their connection is continuously tested on track.

It’s a challenge Eimear O’Connor is very familiar with. As a Race Engineer for PREMA Racing in her third F1 ACADEMY campaign, she has previously worked with Maya Weug and Nina Gademan.

Now teaming up with rookie Mathilda Paatz in the #8 Aston Martin car, the partnership has already delivered as the German racer brought home her first podium in Montreal’s Opening Race, followed by her maiden win in the Reverse Grid Race later that same day.

In celebration of International Women in Engineering Day, F1 ACADEMY caught up with O’Connor during Round 2 to discuss the work race engineers do on track and behind the scenes to mould their drivers for success.

Although a constant face on the PREMA pit wall, O’Connor’s responsibilities extend far beyond what you get a glimpse of on TV. Whilst supporting Paatz is her primary task, she stresses the need for a collective effort across the team’s rookie trio.

“Mainly before we get to the track, we're going to look at preparing an event,” she explains. “Luckily enough, we have references from last year, pretty strong ones at least. Normally, you're going to review what was done last year, especially now, it's not a new track for us which makes the job a little bit easier.

“Then on top of that, you need to do the prep with the drivers. Mathilda, in her case, she's already driven here, but the other two, Natalia (Granada) and Payton (Westcott), they haven't. So it's important that they all work together to try and understand and work together a little bit in the sim because it's not completely like real life.

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“Having that benefit of having driven there before, she can provide a good reference for the other two. Then also some ways where they’re quicker, people can gain like this.”

She continues: “Once we show up on track, the main thing after the install check in with all the cars is just to make sure everything’s okay to run the drivers through what the plan for the weekend will be.

“I think a really important thing is to talk about expectations. Normally with the race engineers, at least at this level, it's one per car. I'll be fully focused on just the Aston, but at the same time, we try to split the jobs out a bit across all three cars to help provide extra analysis and data feedback for the other drivers as well.”

Although the technology and Formula 4-level machinery powers their activities, it’s the human relationship that lies at the centre of a team’s performance. Working with drivers with differing backgrounds and experience levels brings its own hurdles as the pair try to align their communication styles and approach.

The job of the Race Engineer is to try and help your driver stay in a good headspace too.

The simplicity of the car compared to those used in F1, F2 or F3 puts a greater emphasis on that partnership. Nevertheless, the driver’s need for support remains unchanged, as she acknowledges: “The driver side, especially because the driver is such an influence on this type of car, it's really important.

“I think it's not just one thing about training, having the right nutrition and all of this. It's actually the mental aspect plays such a big part, especially in terms of actually being able to be consistent, be clean with your driving, just stay calm.

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“Pressure is for tyres ultimately at the end of the day. There are a lot of external expectations, especially with the academies backing and being on the stage and present with F1. The job of the Race Engineer is to try and help your driver stay in a good headspace too.

“If you're calm, you can kind of give that calm presence to your driver because they have enough stuff going on. I think the more calm that you can be, the more confident in what you're doing and the trust that you can build with them, it's super important.”

She adds: “I don’t want to hear about ‘I did this mistake’. What did you learn? Rather than framing it as a mistake, frame it as I learnt I should have done this instead. Frame it differently, it’s just about your mindset.”

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However, once the cars hit the track and the action intensifies, the Race Engineer has to trust that they’ve instilled their driver with the right headspace, giving them the confidence and resilience to cope with the unexpected.

Nowhere was that more visible than in the Montreal Reverse Grid Race. After steady coaching from O’Connor, radio problems left her and Paatz unable to communicate during the late Safety Car period. Therefore, it was down to the 17-year-old to navigate the restart based off her own intuition until O’Connor was finally able to inform her of race leader Rafaela Ferreira’s penalty.

Rather than framing it as a mistake, frame it as I learnt I should have done this instead.

“Ultimately, what I really like about the job the most is that you never know what's going to happen,” she notes. “You need to be able to react quickly and under pressure. Critical decision-making with a very short space of time is something, experience helps a lot with that.

“In the first year I still remember on the grid in Jeddah for my first race, I was there telling the guys for the pressure drop for the tyres and they told me after my hand was shaking. Now, I'm just super relaxed, there’s a J and I'm having a great time.”