Samuel David Michael (born 29 April 1971) is an Australian

motor sports Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

engineer and designer, who held senior positions with

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship ...

constructors Williams and

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

. He is currently employed by

Supercar A supercar – also called exotic car – is a loosely defined description of street-legal, high-performance sports cars. Since the 2010s, the term hypercar has come into use for the highest performing supercars. Supercars commonly serve as t ...

team Triple Eight Race Engineering.

Early career

Michael was born in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

and grew up in Canberra. After a brief stint working on Neal Bates' Toyota Celica GT-Four rally car, Michael studied

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...

at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

with a thesis on

data acquisition Data acquisition is the process of sampling signals that measure real-world physical conditions and converting the resulting samples into digital numeric values that can be manipulated by a computer. Data acquisition systems, abbreviated by the acro ...

systems for racing cars. During his studies, Greg Siddle employed Michael on a part-time basis working on

Mark Larkham Mark "Larko" Larkham (born 29 December 1963 in Griffith) is a retired Australian racing driver, former racing team owner and television commentator. Open wheelers Mark Larkham's first impressions on the national racing spotlight was finishing ...

's Formula Holden, so that Michael could continue his studies.

Formula 1

Michael was recruited by UK-based

Lotus Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...

in 1993. After Team Lotus went bankrupt in 1994 Gary Anderson, the chief designer at

Jordan Grand Prix Jordan Grand Prix was a Formula One constructor that competed from 1991 to 2005. The team was named after Irish businessman and founder Eddie Jordan. The team was based at Silverstone, UK but raced with an Irish licence. In early 2005, the ...

, took Michael on to established the team's

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

department. Michael spent two years working in the Jordan factory on data acquisition, and installed a seven-post rig for simulating suspension movement and designing an

active differential A differential is a gear train with three drive shafts that has the property that the rotational speed of one shaft is the average of the speeds of the others, or a fixed multiple of that average. Functional description The following descr ...

. In 1997, Michael joined the Jordan test team. In 1998 he was promoted to

race engineer A race engineer is a motorsport team member who analyses data to achieve the best performance from the vehicle and driver. The race engineer communicates with the team's data analyst, mechanics, and driver, both between and during races. Off th ...

for

Ralf Schumacher Ralf Schumacher (born 30 June 1975) is a German former racing driver. He is the younger brother of seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher, and the pair are the only siblings to each win Formula One races. Schumacher began kar ...

. When the German departed to go to Williams in 1999, Michael inherited

Heinz-Harald Frentzen Heinz-Harald Frentzen (born 18 May 1967) is a German former racing driver. He competed in multiple disciplines including Sportscars, Formula One and DTM. He had his most success in Formula One, entering over 150 Grands Prix and winning three. E ...

. His partnership with Frentzen was successful, resulting in a win at the

French Grand Prix The French Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de France), formerly known as the Grand Prix de l'ACF (Automobile Club de France), is an auto race held as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One World Champions ...

Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours is a motor racing circuit located in central France, near the towns of Magny-Cours and Nevers, some from Paris and from Lyon. It staged the Formula One French Grand Prix from 1991 (succeeding Circuit Paul Ricar ...

, and then again at the

Italian Grand Prix The Italian Grand Prix ( it, Gran Premio d'Italia) is the fifth oldest national Grand Prix (after the French Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix), having been held since 1921. In 2013 it ...

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label= Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of M ...

. In 2001,

Sir Frank Williams Sir Francis Owen Garbett Williams (16 April 1942 – 28 November 2021) was a British businessman, racing car driver, and the founder of the Williams Grand Prix Engineering, Williams Formula One team. He was the team principal from its foundati ...

brought Michael to Williams as Senior Operations Engineer. He took over the responsibility of managing the engineers at races and tests. In May 2004, Michael was promoted to

Technical Director A technical director (TD) is usually a senior technical person within e.g. a software company, engineering firm, film studio, theatre company or television studio. This person usually has the highest level of skill within a specific technical f ...

of Williams, leaving Patrick Head to focus on engineering strategy. In late 2011, Michael joined McLaren as Sporting Director, becoming part of the senior technical management team. At McLaren, Michael came under pressure following a series of failures during pitstops, during the introduction of new equipment and procedures. Martin Whitmarsh defended Michael's position, and shortly afterwards the changes began to pay off.

Return to Australia

At the end of 2014 Michael returned to Australia, after resigning from McLaren earlier that year. In mid-2016, Michael joined the Australian Institute for Motor Sport Safety board focusing on safety in motor sport. In late 2016, Michael took on a part-time mentoring role with Triple Eight Race Engineering after

Ludo Lacroix Ludovic "Ludo" Lacroix is a French motor racing engineer currently engineering Anton De Pasquale's Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang in the Supercars Championship. Career Early career Lacroix began his career in 1988 in France, and afterwards had ...

moved to DJR Team Penske.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Michael, Sam 1971 births Living people University of New South Wales alumni Australian motorsport people Formula One designers Lotus Cars McLaren people Williams Grand Prix Engineering