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Ribhu Chatterjee
The scream of the engine, daring overtakes and podium celebrations all contribute to the spectacle when a Formula 1 racing car zooms through a track at 290 kilometers per hour or faster.
While the driver hogs the spotlight – and rightly so – behind every winning race car is a highly coordinated team of specialists. They are known as the pit crew. A quiet squad that operates with the precision of a military unit, with each role woven into the automobile's safety, speed, and dependability.
They labour in the shadow of drivers, but without them, a car would never cross the line.
But it was not as we perceive it now. In the early decades of motorsports, mechanics simply mended cars, tightened bolts, and performed whatever was necessary throughout the long races. As motorsports progressed, so did the pit crew. Today, a modern pit stop is a precision performance in which dozens of hands operate in unison, often accomplishing complex tasks in only seconds.
Modern crew also have expertise in tires, suspension, electronics, engine systems and race data. Every manoeuvre during a pit stop is practised multiple times, much like a choreographed dance, to guarantee that no second is wasted.
A Formula One pit stop is completed in less than three seconds.
Each member of the pit team has a specific duty based on their area of expertise. On the top of the RB pit crew’s list is Mark Denton, also known as Crunch, who is the garage's backbone. With around 15-20 years of experience with Red Bull machinery, he serves as a liaison between engineers and mechanics.
He has worked with RBs 1–18. As the top mechanic, he can handle every part of the vehicle. He is completely familiar with the vehicle, including the tires, suspension, engine, gearbox and wiring.
“I am a system engineer, and so when I saw something wrong with the sensor and electronics, I had to rely on him, so I said to him, 'Crunch, I have an issue with the sensor, or I have an issue with the battery. Can you organise to change the programme on the car?” So he will rely on his mechanics and organise all the work around the car,” says his colleague Charlotte Henry.
The youngest among the Red Bull pit crew team, who joined just a year ago, is Isabella Deville, or “Bella,” a No. 3 mechanic.
Before joining Red Bull, Bella freelanced with Porsche GT vehicles, honing her expertise in gearboxes and Porsche parts. She has worked on every Red Bull car, from the RB1 to the RB22.
She primarily works on the car's front end, including suspension, brakes, steering components, and tire replacements.
With only a year in the paddock, she's catching up quickly and embracing the new tactics. Her thirst for knowledge is palpable, and as her colleague puts it, "Once she has completed the assignment, she will ask me to verify if the sensors are functioning properly; if not, she will redo the job. It's funny because she asks a lot of questions, sometimes challenging us, and I don't know how to explain," adds her coworker Charlotte Henry. She hopes to become the No. 2 mechanic before the end of the year.
Aside from the mechanics of the automobiles, the electronics play an important role in making the race successful. Chacha, also known as Charlotte Henry, is one of the electronics guardians.
Before joining Red Bull, she worked trackside for Nissan in Formula E, where the transmission just required reverse and drive. "Now I have seven gears to check," she giggles, "so it's quite different."
She is an electronics report engineer who focuses on monitors, sensors, electronic systems and safety parameters.
She has been in charge of all RB cars, from number one to number twenty-two. For Henry, the pit crew signifies something unique within the bigger team. She never feels alone when something out of the ordinary happens, such as changing the gearbox or analysing a sensor.
"The pit crew team is a team inside a team," she explains. "It's like in the navy: you have the best pilots, and the pit is that; it has the best mechanics, the best reaction time, the best body shape, and the best mindset." Nothing discourages her, and she enjoys working behind the scenes, including being the final checker before the car hits the track.
Greg Borel, the team's build and development manager with nearly three decades of Formula One experience, leads the pit crew.
He recalls his first pit stop during the 2003 Jordan Grand Prix, describing it as "nerve-racking." Today, it feels like muscle memory to him: "You practise it so much that it kind of just becomes another part of your job."
The best moments for him are seamless, with every member of the crew giving their best for the car: "The car comes in, stops, wheels are changed at the same time, drops at the right time, and goes."
He was once pushed 4 and a half feet away from where he was kneeling after being hit by a car's sliding rear end in China.
Asked if he feels shadowed by the driver because they are the frontliners to take the car to victory, he responds: “No, no, not really, you know, drivers are the stars, of course they are, and being a part of the pit crew is just another part of our job; they crack on with it and do that to the best of their abilities. We come together as a team and take the victory as a team.”
Despite the danger and pressure, pit crew members rarely seek publicity. Drivers may be the public stars, but workers in the pit lane see victory as a communal effort. From the mechanic to the engineer, everyone contributes to the car's success on the track. They are the unseen heart of motorsport. For them, the delight is not in fame, but in those few perfect seconds when everything works brilliantly and the car roars back into contention. Borel summarises it with the pit lane's unofficial rule: "It's exciting, but don't mess it up."
The driver may collect the trophy, but the entire crew shares the victory.
