Ed Hemsworth strides by 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 one of the vital profitable groups within the historical past of Components 1. However Hemsworth’s function — Race Components 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 automotive 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 metallic and carbon,” Hemsworth informed me, “however if you add all of it collectively, it may very well be the one factor that stops you from placing an engine on the automotive.”
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 “I put all of [my success] all the way down to what he taught us as youngsters: if you’re 12 years outdated raking grass within the backyard and he tells you the piles are too far aside, you are like ‘what the hell?’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 notice I’ve gotten to the place I’m by being a little bit of a perfectionist and a workaholic.”
Ed Hemsworth joined the crew in 2021
Photograph by: Purple Bull Racing
The teachings discovered in his childhood backyard ready Hemsworth for the all-encompassing calls for of Components 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 the most effective factor on this planet. I would not be the identical particular person if I used to be away from the monitor.” (That dedication hasn’t gone unnoticed: within the brief time since we spoke in Las Vegas, Hemsworth has been promoted. His youthful brother, Oscar, impressed to affix the racing crew after seeing Hemsworth’s ardour for the function, stepped into his sneakers.)
“I can identify each half quantity, the outline, and what number of we’ve acquired.”
So what precisely does the job of a race elements and lifing controller entail? As Hemsworth places it, “I’m the principle hyperlink to the manufacturing facility for elements and operations.” He primarily works on Verstappen’s aspect of the storage, however gives help to his counterpart on Purple Bull’s second crew — quickly to be Liam Lawson’s — within the occasion of a crash. “I be sure that we’ve acquired all the best elements on the monitor, handle what bits we’re eradicating and including every week, and be sure that all of it will get there on Wednesday in order that when the mechanics flip up on Thursday to arrange the automotive, 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 far more actually supporting Max Verstappen
Photograph by: Purple Bull Racing
For Hemsworth, each season begins lengthy earlier than testing, with a reset of the crew’s elements system. “Every part will get taken out of the cupboards and also you return to zero. You’ve clearly acquired all the usual nuts and bolts which you will preserve yearly since you all the time want inventory of these, however we fully rethink the format of the cupboards and frequently attempt to enhance. As soon as you’ve got 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 important: the processes established in preseason will proceed by 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 now have to declare each half that we run due to the fee cap, so one of many greatest points of our job is ensuring that when the FIA appears to be like at our automotive on a Sunday night time, we will show all of the elements that we ran,” he mentioned. “We ensure that the pc model of the automotive matches the bodily automobiles within the storage all over the weekend.” At this level in his profession, Hemsworth is an encyclopedia. And if he’s doing his job completely, no person would know he’s there.
“I can identify each half quantity, the outline, and what number of we’ve acquired,” he mentioned with a touch of satisfaction. “The mechanics do an incredible job, and after they flip round and say, ‘I want my subsequent bit on the ground,’ we must be invisible behind them, and they need to by no means know we’re there,” he defined. “If one thing breaks on the automotive, 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 executed effectively.”
“It’s unimaginable to have been on the journey with Max for all of his championships,” he mentioned
Photograph by: Purple Bull Racing
Hemsworth’s initiation into the game was a trial by hearth. He joined the crew in 2021 on the top 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 rise up to hurry rapidly as a result of we have been combating with Mercedes and crashing into one another,” he mentioned. 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 mentioned of Verstappen’s lap-one tangle with Hamilton, which despatched the Dutchman hurtling into the barrier at 180mph. “If you’re sweeping up elements of the automotive that our driver sat in, there’s the conclusion that we’re not simply messing round with toys right here. This is not a sport the place you’ll be able to press the reset button, that is folks’s lives — and it was a large 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 powerful initiation. “2021 was an incredible expertise that set me on this path. If 2023 was your first 12 months [at Red Bull], you’d in all probability be considering, ‘‘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, once we’d usually [continue with the same setup], we have been doing extra each week to attempt to preserve the aggressive edge,” Hemsworth mentioned. “In 2023 we have been so good that it acquired a bit straightforward. The automotive was inherently fast in every single place we went — we rolled it out the door on Friday morning and we’d be 20 seconds up the highway,” he mentioned. “Now we’re combating each week, however it’s good for everybody as a result of the [competition] is what retains us all right here.”
Hemsworth can also 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 unimaginable to have been on the journey with Max for all of his championships, and to say you have been a part of that, even simply by being trackside,” he mentioned. “We deal with him like a standard member of the crew as a result of the minute the drivers step out the door, they’re these superheroes … it have to 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 somewhat bit, and also you do suppose behind your head, ‘that is superior,’” he admitted. “It’ll be good enjoyable to indicate your grandchildren in 50 years’ time.”
Most of his display 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 affect the race outcome, so there’s a number of adrenaline. We’re not skilled athletes, however it’s good to really feel such as you’re leaned on by the driving force and by the crew,” Hemsworth defined.
Forward of the 2025 season, Hemsworth was promoted to Purple Bull’s Race Group 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 is no coaching for it. You’re mainly requested, ‘Do you need to have a go at that?’ You then mess it up for a few weeks earlier than you discover your rhythm,” Hemsworth informed me. “As soon as you’ve got executed it 1000 occasions it turns into muscle reminiscence, however there’s nonetheless that nervousness at the beginning of each race.”
As Hemsworth steps into his new function as Race Group Coordinator, his focus is shifting from the technical trivia to the broader problem of managing relationships and operations throughout the crew. “I like the technical aspect of issues, and I feel I’ll miss that, however stepping again to see the larger image of Components 1 as a sport is thrilling,” he mentioned. Impressed by his father, Hemsworth goals of changing into a crew supervisor at some point, however he’s aware of the challenges that accompany life within the pit lane. “Sooner or later, there’s going to be a pull residence, and youngsters and household will take precedence. However in the mean time, I’m all-in and nonetheless need to be trackside. I need to win championships and assist push the crew ahead.”
On this article
Emily Selleck
Components 1
Tradition
Max Verstappen
Purple Bull Racing
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