________________________________________________________________________________________________ Main
Interview
I turned up in 2010 to make sense of a team that was subsequently quite fractured
Of course , the catalyst that instilled the biggest change – and possibly the biggest hurdle – was the cost cap , an FIA regulation that forced teams to work to a budget . “ Although it wasn ’ t new to us , it came down to a level that was painful – not eye-watering , but painful nonetheless . Then the pandemic hit , and other teams lobbied for it to go down further . For a company like ours , it was a massive reduction . So , we had to reassess how we operated ,” shares Rob . The team proceeded to make distinctions between F1 work and non-F1 work in order to balance the cost . “ It ’ s brought us to a level of efficiency we never had , and the manufacturing is much higher than it ever was .”
Up until 2021 , Mercedes-AMG was the team to beat , now it ’ s Red Bull Racing , and Rob ’ s new challenge is establishing the winning formula to get the business back on top . “ That ’ s what motivates everyone . When you ’ re winning every year ,
manufacturing-today . com 13