Red Bull mechanic, Calum Nicholas has quickly become one of the most prominent personalities in the F1 paddock. Part of this is the fact that he has led the Red Bull pit crew to many accolades, including the fastest pit stop world record (1.82 seconds) at the 2019 Brazilian GP.
But despite this level of expertise, Nicholas revealed, on the Road to Success Podcast, that there is one pit crew job that he would never want to assume — the rear jackman! The Red Bull man explains that he dreads the fine margins of that job, in an already high-stakes pit stop situation.
“I honestly think it’s the most underrated job. Honestly, it’s intimidating because the car’s going to come past you and you’ve essentially got to chase the rear crash structure,” he explained.
Gone in 1⃣.8️⃣2️⃣ seconds ⏱ Racking up another World Record pitstop at the #BrazilGP! #givesyouwings pic.twitter.com/3UGTfur4da
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) November 18, 2019
“And the bit on the jack is only that big, and you’ve got to hit it and get it up in the air so quickly. Whereas at least with the front jack, the car comes to you. You haven’t got to chase it. And you don’t want to miss it. It’s only that wide, the crash structure,” added Nicholas.
The level of expertise and precision required to do these pit crew roles is exactly why every crew member is designated a certain role and then extensively trained for it. In F1, the pit crews aren’t rotational and one man sticks to his job throughout their tenure with the team and their career.
Nicholas reveals the physical toll of being on the Red Bull pit crew
Nicholas now plies his trade as a Senior Power Unit Assembly Technician at the Milton-Keynes-based team. However, he revealed that he has trained in almost all the roles of an F1 pit crew personnel.
That’s why, he knows the ins and outs of all the roles that an F1 pit crew performs and he labels the guys working on the rear wheels of an F1 car as one of the most hard-working. This is because the sheer amount of physicality required to pull off the job in that limited amount of time is backbreaking.
“I’ve done wheel off, I’ve done rear wheel on, which is probably the toughest physically. Those rear wheels now, they’re really heavy, those 18-inch wheels. So, yeah, I’ve trained in most over the years, but people don’t train in all jobs,” he concluded.
The team’s extensive training schedule and the depth of talent in their trackside operations department did pay dividends at the end of last season. After 24 rounds of racing, Red Bull won the DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award with a staggering 552 points (their closest rivals were McLaren with 433 points).
