SAM MICHAEL

Consistent laps are part of the game, but we’re not talking here about corner-entry speeds or perfectly judged apices. From about 7.30 a normal routine is unchanging: through the fabrication department, past composites and on, via the pattern shop, to the two wind tunnels. Williams technical director Sam Michael understands the importance of communication.

 

“A morning tour can take 25 minutes,” he says, “if it’s quick and there’s not much to discuss. If people want to talk about something, though, it can last two hours. It’s invaluable because it gives me a fresh view of what’s going on before the working day starts.”

 

Michael’s family has no previous motorsport history, but he grew up “on the land” in Australia, as he puts it. “There were cars and motorbikes everywhere and it was quite natural to need to know how to fix things,” he says. He competed in motocross during his teens, then a part-time job in a VW garage brought him into contact with rally driver Neil Bates: it wasn’t long before he formed part of the service crew.

 

“I decided quite early on that I didn’t want to race bikes or cars for a living, mainly because I knew I wasn’t fast enough,” he says. “I was more interested in knowing how and why they went quickly.” After school, he studied mechanical engineering at university in Sydney and landed another part-time job, in the domestic Formula Brabham series. If his mind hadn’t previously been made up about his career, it was now. Michael attended his first F1 race – the Adelaide GP – in 1991 and had a mentor on his side: that Formula Brabham team had been managed by Greg Siddle, who had spent many years working in Europe and was blessed with excellent contacts. Sam spoke with Lotus and, in 1993, he flew to Britain.

 

“Lotus was quite small,” he says. “The team had about 70 people and I was doing design, simulation, R&D...a little bit of everything. Two years later I moved to Jordan, which was a step up but still quite small.” Michael joined Williams on January 1 2001, as Chief Operations Engineer, and was promoted to his current position in 2004. “I’m not sure what I’d do if I wasn’t involved in F1,” he says, “although I was always interested in space research and heavy industry, such as mining. There are plenty of ways to make money, but not many that keep you stimulated.”

 

In his own words: “My goal is for Williams to win again.”