With all the attention going to either the cars or the drivers in F1, few actually stop to consider the pressure a team manager has on his shoulders and how many things he needs to monitor during the race.
This clip shows Peter Windsor who signed as team manager for Williams in 1991 after a stint at Ferrari, interviewing none other than Steve Nielsen, who joined Williams as a sporting manager in 2014.
The two exchange plenty of great stories about how their jobs differ and if you’re a true “F1 nerd” you’ll probably love to hear about how many pairs of shoes a pit crew goes through during a season or why teams prefer to have guys on the pit wall instead of putting everyone in the garage.
Windsor also mentions how amazed he is with Williams’ pitstop practice sessions – which is something we need to keep an eye on since the team actually pulled off the fastest pitstops during all three races so far this season.
As for obvious differences between pit crews in the early 90’s and the ones that operate today, there’s always the fitness factor, even for mechanics.
Windsor follows up on that by telling a pretty funny story about how his guys couldn’t be bothered to get in shape back in the day.