‘That drives me mad’: Smedley tears into slow F1 race engineers

Former Ferrari and Williams engineer Rob Smedley has launched a blistering critique of modern Formula 1 pitwall operations, accusing some current race engineers of reacting too slowly under pressure and leaving drivers stranded without answers when they need them most.

In a sport obsessed with milliseconds, Smedley believes too many engineers are hesitating at the exact moments decisive leadership is required – and he did not hold back in explaining why that frustrates him so deeply.

Speaking on Jake Humphrey’s High Performance Racing podcast alongside former Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer, Smedley painted the picture of a role that demands far more than simply relaying strategy calls over the radio.

Constantly in the head of the driver

Smedley argued that elite race engineers must combine technical mastery with psychological awareness, understanding not only how the car behaves but also how the driver interprets it.

"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 according to Smedley, the technical side alone is not enough. Drivers communicate through feel, instinct and experience – and engineers must instantly translate that language into solutions.

"You've got to be constantly in the head of the driver,” he added. "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."

Smedley slams ‘unacceptable’ delays

Felipe Massa’s race engineer became even more animated when discussing engineers who fail to react quickly during races, branding indecision and over-reliance on factory support as fatal weaknesses.

"I think there's good engineers in Formula 1 now, and I think there's some pretty dreadful ones as well," Smedley said.

"I think indecision makes a dreadful one, like not being on top of your game and understanding first principles."

For Smedley, the core issue is simple: drivers cannot wait while engineers scramble for answers.

"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 explained.

"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."

And then came the sharpest jab of all – a scathing attack on engineers waiting for remote guidance from factories thousands of miles away while races unfold in real time.

"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.

"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."

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