Rob Smedley slams slow F1 pitwall responses as "unacceptable"

Former Ferrari and Williams engineer Rob Smedley has criticised some modern race engineers for the time taken to relay vital information back to drivers.

Speaking alongside former Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer and broadcaster Jake Humphrey on the High Performance Racing podcast, the veteran engineer offered a glimpse into the intense dynamic between the pitwall and the cockpit.

"What is a great race engineer? He's someone who understands the driver and can optimise their position always," Smedley said. "So whether or not it's in qualifying, whether or not it's in the race, in my opinion, a good race engineer should have very good knowledge of aerodynamics.

"You should have a very good knowledge of tyres. You should have very good knowledge of the mechanical systems on the car, and you should know how to optimise all of those things to make the car go fast.

"But then you should also understand how your driver operates. Not only what his driving style is, but also what's the psychology of this person. They're an athlete, right? So you can't just say, 'Well, this is the best way to optimise the car according to the simulation. So this is what we're going to do.' Because the guy who's driving it might go, 'Yeah, but that doesn't suit me. I don't like that. That gives me too much understeer. It gives me too much oversteer.' Whatever it is. So, you've got to be constantly in the head of the driver.

"And for me, you've also got to translate. The drivers are not engineers. They're not trained. Most of the drivers have learned the vocabulary of racing cars through experience.

"And each one of them translates what the car is doing in a slightly different way. It's up to the race engineer to be able to translate that back into the team."

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Photo by: Erik Junius

When asked what makes a "dreadful" race engineer, Smedley added: "I think there's good engineers in Formula 1 now, and I think there's some pretty dreadful ones as well. I think indecision makes a dreadful one, like not being on top of your game and understanding first principles, those elements that I've just talked about, like tyre science, tyre dynamics, vehicle dynamics, aerodynamics.

"You've got to understand them. I don't want to say as good as an aerodynamicist or as good as the best like tyre scientists in the pitlane, but you've got to be able to have a conversation with them.

"You've got to understand 80% of what they understand. I think if you don't do that, you're dead in the water."

Smedley also criticised race engineers who take "forever to come with the answer", branding it as "unacceptable".

"They're [the driver] in a situation. They don't understand it. They need help. Now, as far as they're concerned, they're driving this car, which is difficult to drive, is difficult to understand," he added. "They're the one in the middle of all of this. They need help.

"They're going to get back on the wireless and shout, 'Give me some help.' So, I get that, and then it's up to the team, especially the race engineer, to be able to get that situation under control.

"So, a good race engineer will get that situation under control very, very quickly. And it comes back again to what I talked about. It comes back to how well do you understand the car? How well do you understand the electronic systems of the car, the aerodynamics of the car, the vehicle dynamics of the car? 

"Because you should be able to come back with 80% of the answer like that. And if you can't, you're not a very good race engineer. 'I'm just waiting for somebody.' I'm in Miami halfway around the world, and I'm waiting for somebody in Brackley or Silverstone or Maranello, some 22-year-old graduate to come back and give me a number that I need.

"Well, I'm sorry, but if you're the race engineer, you have to be much, much better than that. You have to keep all of these guys on their toes, not the other way round. And that's the bit that drives me mad when a driver asks a question, and then it takes forever to come back with the answer. That is unacceptable."