The man who keeps track of every single part on Max Verstappen’s car

Ed Hemsworth strides by means of the Purple Bull Racing hospitality unit on a cold Las Vegas night time, mixing seamlessly into the polo-clad military of mechanics, engineers and executives who make up some of the profitable groups within the historical past of Method 1. However Hemsworth’s position — Race Elements and Lifing Controller — is a linchpin, an invisible but indispensable thread that ties the manufacturing facility to the monitor. The job of managing the hundreds of elements used to construct a $15 million automobile calls for an obsessive degree of consideration to element and a deep love for the game. “It’s solely taking care of little bits of steel and carbon,” Hemsworth instructed me, “however if you add all of it collectively, it could possibly be the one factor that stops you from placing an engine on the automobile.”

Very like Max Verstappen, the driving force Hemsworth has labored with over the previous 4 years, F1 wasn’t only a profession aspiration — it was a household legacy. And like Verstappen, Hemsworth’s father instilled in him a relentless drive for perfection. “My dad was the testing supervisor at Arrows within the ’90s,” Hemsworth recalled. “I put all of [my success] all the way down to what he taught us as children: if you’re 12 years outdated raking grass within the backyard and he tells you the piles are too far aside, you are like ‘what the hell?’ However now I look again on it and understand I’ve gotten to the place I’m by being a little bit of a perfectionist and a workaholic.”

Ed Hemsworth joined the staff in 2021

Photograph by: Purple Bull Racing

The teachings discovered in his childhood backyard ready Hemsworth for the all-encompassing calls for of Method 1. “I used to be used to my dad not being round a lot of the time … it is a arduous life and it may be troublesome to handle stuff at residence, however spending your Sunday on the grid and doing the pit stops is simply one of the best factor on this planet. I would not be the identical individual if I used to be away from the monitor.” (That dedication hasn’t gone unnoticed: within the quick time since we spoke in Las Vegas, Hemsworth has been promoted. His youthful brother, Oscar, impressed to affix the racing staff after seeing Hemsworth’s ardour for the position, stepped into his sneakers.)

“I can identify each half quantity, the outline, and what number of we’ve obtained.”

So what precisely does the job of a race components and lifing controller entail? As Hemsworth places it, “I’m the primary hyperlink to the manufacturing facility for components and operations.” He primarily works on Verstappen’s aspect of the storage, however supplies assist to his counterpart on Purple Bull’s second staff — quickly to be Liam Lawson’s — within the occasion of a crash. “I be sure that we’ve obtained all the precise components on the monitor, handle what bits we’re eradicating and including every week, and make sure that all of it will get there on Wednesday in order that when the mechanics flip up on Thursday to arrange the automobile, it’s prepared.” And if — like me — you’re questioning what the “lifing” a part of his job entails, in an F1 context, it’s the method of evaluating the sturdiness of a element or half. As in, its lifespan.

Ed Hemsworth way more actually supporting Max Verstappen

Photograph by: Purple Bull Racing

For Hemsworth, each season begins lengthy earlier than testing, with a reset of the staff’s components system. “Every little thing will get taken out of the cupboards and also you return to zero. You’ve clearly obtained all the usual nuts and bolts which you may maintain yearly since you at all times want inventory of these, however we utterly rethink the structure of the cupboards and regularly attempt to enhance. As soon as you have began racing, you do not have time to do the admin or have as a lot time within the manufacturing facility.” That meticulous preparation is essential: the processes established in preseason will proceed by means of to the ultimate race in Abu Dhabi.

When Hemsworth hits the highway, he’s additionally tasked with guaranteeing each nut and bolt is accounted for in compliance with FIA rules. “We have now to declare each half that we run due to the price cap, so one of many greatest features of our job is ensuring that when the FIA appears at our automobile on a Sunday night time, we will show all of the components that we ran,” he stated. “We make it possible for the pc model of the automobile matches the bodily automobiles within the storage throughout the weekend.” At this level in his profession, Hemsworth is an encyclopedia. And if he’s doing his job completely, no one would know he’s there. 

“I can identify each half quantity, the outline, and what number of we’ve obtained,” he stated with a touch of satisfaction. “The mechanics do an incredible job, and once they flip round and say, ‘I would like my subsequent bit on the ground,’ we ought to be invisible behind them, and they need to by no means know we’re there,” he defined. “If one thing breaks on the automobile, and the fellows haven’t even needed to come and ask, or they haven’t even had to consider it being changed and it’s there behind them — that’s my job completed nicely.” 

“It’s unbelievable to have been on the journey with Max for all of his championships,” he stated

Photograph by: Purple Bull Racing

Hemsworth’s initiation into the game was a trial by fireplace. He joined the staff in 2021 on the peak of Verstappen’s rivalry with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. “I used to be nonetheless so inexperienced and was going to races not totally understanding how issues labored, however I needed to stand up to hurry rapidly as a result of we had been preventing with Mercedes and crashing into one another,” he stated. Silverstone 2021 — solely the tenth race of Hemsworth’s profession — stays etched in his reminiscence as his hardest day on the job.

“It was the worst crash anybody right here had ever seen,” he stated of Verstappen’s lap-one tangle with Hamilton, which despatched the Dutchman hurtling into the barrier at 180mph. “Whenever you’re sweeping up components of the automobile that our driver sat in, there’s the belief that we’re not simply messing round with toys right here. This is not a recreation the place you may press the reset button, that is individuals’s lives — and it was an enormous eye opener.” 

Regardless of the challenges of the season, which noticed Verstappen clinch his maiden world title on the eleventh hour in Abu Dhabi, Hemsworth is grateful for the robust initiation. “2021 was an incredible expertise that set me on this path. If 2023 was your first yr [at Red Bull], you’d in all probability be pondering, ‘‘everybody ought to do that racing factor.’”

The previous few seasons have been outlined by Purple Bull’s dominance, however 2024 introduced new challenges. “It was much more troublesome. Even in the direction of the top of the season, after we’d usually [continue with the same setup], we had been doing extra each week to attempt to maintain the aggressive edge,” Hemsworth stated. “In 2023 we had been so good that it obtained a bit straightforward. The automobile was inherently fast in all places we went — we rolled it out the door on Friday morning and we’d be 20 seconds up the highway,” he stated. “Now we’re preventing each week, nevertheless it’s good for everybody as a result of the [competition] is what retains us all right here.”

Hemsworth can be a member of the pit crew

Photograph by: Purple Bull Racing

Although Purple Bull completed third within the constructors, Verstappen maintained his lead over Lando Norris to safe his fourth world championship. Hemsworth is unequivocal in his reward for the driving force, whom he describes as the best of all time. “It’s unbelievable to have been on the journey with Max for all of his championships, and to say you had been a part of that, even simply by being trackside,” he stated. “We deal with him like a traditional member of the staff as a result of the minute the drivers step out the door, they’re these superheroes … it should be so troublesome to be placed on such a pedestal.” 

Hemsworth has gotten his personal style of fame, albeit on a a lot smaller scale, because of Netflix’s Drive to Survive and the F1 broadcast. “We in all probability all play as much as the cameras a bit of bit, and also you do suppose at the back of your head, ‘that is superior,’” he admitted. “It’ll be good enjoyable to indicate your grandchildren in 50 years’ time.”

Most of his display screen time comes throughout the race when he takes on his different job: as rear jack man on Verstappen’s pit crew. “I like doing pit stops. It’s the one time we will actually impression the race end result, so there’s lots of adrenaline. We’re not skilled athletes, nevertheless it’s good to really feel such as you’re leaned on by the driving force and by the staff,” Hemsworth defined. 

Forward of the 2025 season, Hemsworth was promoted to Purple Bull’s Race Crew Coordinator

Photograph by: Purple Bull Racing

Contemplating the significance positioned on pit stops (Purple Bull’s quickest cease in 2024 was 1.90 seconds), the entire course of is surprisingly advert hoc. “There isn’t any coaching for it. You’re principally requested, ‘Do you wish to have a go at that?’ You then mess it up for a few weeks earlier than you discover your rhythm,” Hemsworth instructed me. “As soon as you have completed it 1000 instances it turns into muscle reminiscence, however there’s nonetheless that nervousness at first of each race.” 

As Hemsworth steps into his new position as Race Crew Coordinator, his focus is shifting from the technical trivialities to the broader problem of managing relationships and operations throughout the staff. “I like the technical aspect of issues, and I feel I’ll miss that, however stepping again to see the larger image of Method 1 as a sport is thrilling,” he stated. Impressed by his father, Hemsworth desires of changing into a staff supervisor someday, however he’s conscious about the challenges that accompany life within the pit lane. “Sooner or later, there’s going to be a pull residence, and children and household will take precedence. However in the intervening time, I’m all-in and nonetheless wish to be trackside. I wish to win championships and assist push the staff ahead.”