Hannah Schmitz and Laura Mueller have become the first women to have a corner named after them at an F1 Grand Prix.
(image from Redbull.com)
To celebrate International Women’s Day, the Australian Grand Prix have dedicated Turn 6 to Schmitz and Mueller.
There have been many parts of tracks named after drivers and influential motorsport stars: the Hamilton Straight, Circuit de Giles Villeneuve and Ascari corner to name a few.
However, Redbull’s Head of Strategy, Hannah Schmitz and Esteban Ocon’s Race Engineer, Laura Mueller, have become the first women to achieve this high honour.
This is a part of the ‘In Her Corner’ initiative, that aims to encourage people into the engineering sector, specifically women, in Australia.
Schmitz has played a crucial role in the success of RedBull Racing in recent years, including their World Constructors Championships in 2022 and 2023, and helped Max Verstappen win his four World Driver’s Championship titles.
Beginning at Redbull in 2009, the Brit has made her way up the strategy rank in the team and helped play out some of the most vital parts in the team’s success and victory.
She is considered as one of the most influential female figures in Formula One, being awarded Female Engineer of the Year award in 2022.
Laura Mueller became the Race Engineer for Esteban Ocon in 2025, becoming the first full-time female race engineer in F1 history. This means she communicates information between the team and the driver.
Her appointment to Haas has become a significant milestone for inclusion for women in motorsport and in STEM subjects.
(image from f1.com)
Speaking on the ‘In Her Corner’ initiative, Mueller commented that this “promotes the importance of ‘if you can see it, you can be it,’ so the more we can all do to shine a light on the overall achievement of women in engineering is a great thing.”
Turn 6 at the Australian Grand Prix being dedicated to these two highly influential and successful women has become a stepping stone in the inclusivity and spotlight on women in motorsport and STEM subjects. This historic renaming has become a benchmark movement for the acknowledgment and appreciation for women in highly male-dominated sports and will hope to inspire the next generation of young girls.
Formula Focus 
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