Job interview: The man who keeps track of every single part of Max Verstappen’s car

Ed Hemsworth walks through the Red Bull Racing hospitality unit on a cool Las Vegas night, blending seamlessly into the polo-clad army of mechanics, engineers and executives who run one of the most successful teams in the history of Formula 1 . But Hemsworth’s role – race parts and living controller – is a lynchpin, an invisible but indispensable thread connecting the factory to the track. The job of managing the thousands of components used to build a $15 million car demands an obsessive level of attention to detail and a deep love of the sport. “It’s just taking care of little pieces of metal and carbon, but when you add it all together, it could be the one thing that stops you from putting an engine on a car,” Hemsworth told me.

Like Max Verstappen, the driver Hemsworth has worked with over the past four years, F1 wasn’t just a career aspiration – it was a family legacy. And like Verstappen, Hemsworth’s father constantly strived for perfection in him. “My dad was the test manager at Arrows in the ’90s,” Hemsworth recalled. “I’ve centered all (my success) on what he taught us as kids: When you’re 12 years old and weeding the garden and he tells you the piles are too far apart, So you say, ‘What is it?’ ‘But now I look back and realize that I got to where I am by being a bit of a perfectionist and a workaholic.’

The lessons learned in his childhood garden prepared Hemsworth for the all-embracing demands of Formula 1. “I was used to my dad not being around most of the time… It’s a hard life and managing stuff at home can be difficult, but spending your Sunday on the grid and doing pit stops is the best thing in the world. If I’d been off the track, I wouldn’t have been the same person.” (That commitment has not gone unnoticed: Shortly after our conversation in Las Vegas, Hemsworth has been promoted. His younger brother, Oscar, won the role.) Seeing Hemsworth’s passion for the racing team Inspired to join, stepped into his shoes.

“I can tell you the number of each part, the description and how many we have.”

So what exactly does the race parts and life controller do? As Hemsworth says, “I’m the factory’s main link for parts and operations.” He primarily works towards Verstappen’s garage, but provides assistance to his counterpart at Red Bull’s other team – soon to be Liam Lawson’s team – in the event of an accident. “I make sure we’ve got all the right parts at the track, manage what pieces we’re removing and adding each week, and make sure it’s all there on Wednesday so that when the mechanics come Thursday Come to set up the car, it’s ready.” And if – like me – you’re wondering what the “life” part of his job is, in F1 context, it’s the process of evaluating the durability of a component or part. Like, its lifespan.

For Hemsworth, each season begins long before testing, with a reset of the team’s parts system. “Everything is taken out of the cabinets and you go back to zero. You’ve obviously got all the standard nuts and bolts that you’ll keep every year because you always need a stock of them, but we completely rethink the layout of the shelves and constantly try to improve. Once you start racing, you don’t have as much time for administration or in the factory.” That careful preparation is key: the procedures established in preseason will continue until the final race in Abu Dhabi.

When Hemsworth hits the road, he’s also tasked with making sure every nut and bolt is accounted for in compliance with FIA regulations. “We have to declare every part we run because of cost limits, so the biggest aspect of our job is to make sure that when the FIA ​​looks at our car on Sunday night, we can prove all those parts The ones we ran,” he said. “We make sure the computer version of the car matches the physical cars in the garage throughout the weekend.” At this point in his career, Hemsworth is an encyclopedia. And if he’s doing his job perfectly, no one will know he’s there.

“I can tell you the number of each part, the description and how many we have,” he said with a hint of pride. “The mechanics do amazing work, and when they turn around and say, ‘I want my next piece on the floor,’ we should be invisible behind them, and they should never know we’re there,” he explained. “If something breaks on the car, and people haven’t even had to come and ask, or they haven’t even had to think about replacing it and it’s behind them – that’s my job well done. ”

Hemsworth’s introduction into the game was a litmus test. He joined the team in 2021 at the height of Verstappen’s rivalry with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. He said, “I was still very green going into the race and didn’t fully understand how things worked, but I had to get up to speed quickly because we were fighting Mercedes and one- Were colliding with others.” Silverstone 2021 – only the 10th race of Hemsworth’s career – is etched in his memory as his toughest day at work.

“It was the worst crash anyone here has ever seen,” he said of Verstappen’s lap-one tangle with Hamilton, which threw the Dutchman into the barrier at 180 mph. “When you are cleaning parts of the car in which our driver was sitting, it is realized that we are not just playing with toys here. It’s not a game where you can press the reset button, it’s people’s lives – and it was a huge eye-opener.”

Despite the challenges of the season, which saw Verstappen win his first world title at the eleventh hour in Abu Dhabi, Hemsworth is grateful for the tough start. “2021 was an amazing experience that set me on this path. If 2023 was your first year (at Red Bull), you might be thinking, “Everyone should do this racing thing.”

The past few seasons have been defined by Red Bull’s dominance, but 2024 brings new challenges. “It was much more difficult. Even at the end of the season, when we would normally (continue with the same setup), we were putting in more effort every week to try to maintain that competitive edge,” Hemsworth said. “We were so good in 2023 that it became a little easier. The car was naturally fast wherever we went – ​​we opened the door on a Friday morning and we were 20 seconds up the road,” he said. “Now we’re fighting every week, but it’s good for everyone because (competition) is what keeps us all here.”

Although Red Bull finished third among the Constructors’ standings, Verstappen maintained his lead over Lando Norris to secure his fourth World Championship. Hemsworth clearly admired Driver, whom he describes as the greatest of all time. He said, “It’s incredible to travel with Max through all his championships and to say you were part of it, even just being trackside.” “We treat them like a normal member of the team because as soon as drivers walk out the door, they become superheroes… It would be very difficult to be put in that position.”

Hemsworth has got his taste of fame, albeit on a much smaller scale, thanks to Netflix drive to survive and F1 broadcasting. “We all probably play in front of the camera a little bit, and you think in your mind, ‘This is amazing,'” he admitted. “It will be so fun to show our grandkids 50 years from now.”

Most of his screen time comes during the race when he takes on his second job: as the rear jack man on Verstappen’s pit crew. “I like to do pit stops. This is the only time we can really influence the outcome of the race, so there’s a lot of adrenaline. We’re not professional athletes, but it feels good to feel like the driver and the team are counting on you,” Hemsworth explained.

Considering the importance given to pit stops (Red Bull’s fastest stop in 2024 was 1.90 seconds), the whole process is surprisingly ad-hoc. “There is no training for this. You’re basically asked, ‘Do you want to try it?’ Then you mess it up for a couple of weeks before you find your groove,” Hemsworth told me. “Once you’ve done it 1000 times it becomes muscle memory, but there’s still that same nervousness at the start of every race.”

As Hemsworth steps into his new role as race team coordinator, his focus has shifted from technical details to the broader challenge of managing relationships and operations across the team. He said, “I love the technical side of things, and I think I’ll miss it, but it’s exciting to step back and look at the bigger picture of Formula 1 as a sport.” Inspired by his father, Hemsworth dreams of one day becoming a team manager, but he is well aware of the challenges that come with life in pit lane. “At some point, there is going to be a pull toward home, and children and family will take priority. But as of now, I am all set and still want to be trackside. I want to win championships and help the team move forward.