Rob Smedley (born 28 November 1973) is a British automotive engineer who works for the organizers of

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 ...

motor racing after several years working within the Williams, Ferrari and

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...

Formula One teams.

Biography

Smedley was born and lived in Normanby, near Middlesbrough, until he was 18. He attended St Peter's School in

South Bank The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial district in central London, next to the River Thames opposite the City of Westminster. It forms a narrow strip of riverside land within the London Borough of Lambeth (where it adjoins Albert ...

and St Mary's Sixth Form College. At

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, whe ...

he achieved a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering followed by a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering. After leaving university, Smedley started work with

Pilbeam Racing Designs Pilbeam Racing Designs is a British company which designs and constructs racing cars, based in the Lincolnshire town of Bourne. The company was founded in 1975 by Mike Pilbeam. Early career Previously Pilbeam worked in Formula One for several ...

, designing

suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Suspension (topology), in mathematics * Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics * Suspension of a ring, in mathematics * Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspen ...

elements used on the

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and then ...

406 campaigned in the 1997 British Touring Car Championship. He went on to work on

Formula 3000 Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines. Formula 3000 championship ...

cars and Williams touring cars before moving to

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 ...

at the start of 1999. At Jordan he worked as a

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 ...

engineer, responsible for

telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', "remote", and ' ...

data used by the team's race engineer and for the 2002 and 2003 seasons became a track engineer for the team. Before the

2004 Formula One season The 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 58th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It was the 55th FIA Formula One World Championship, and was contested over eighteen races from 7 March to 24 October 2004. The championship was ...

he moved to Ferrari where he initially worked in the test team. In the middle of the 2006 season, he replaced Gabriele Delli Colli as

Felipe Massa Felipe Massa (, born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver. He competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between 2002 and 2017, where he scored 11 Grand Prix victories, 41 podiums and finished as championship runner-up in 2008 by one poi ...

's race engineer. Almost immediately Massa's form improved; his previously common errors became less frequent, and in August 2006, Massa took his first Formula One

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

and victory at the

Turkish Grand Prix The Turkish Grand Prix ( tr, ) is a Formula One motor race held at the Istanbul Park Circuit, designed by Hermann Tilke. The race was part of the Formula One World Championship between and , and to , the latter two being due to the COVID ...

. Smedley is noted for his very frank and occasionally humorous radio transmissions to Massa. This includes at the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix when he was heard clearly saying "Felipe baby, stay cool" after Massa was complaining about not having a clear visor for the wet race which was being restarted. Following Massa's injury at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, Smedley carried on with the role of race engineer for stand-in drivers

Luca Badoer Luca Badoer (born 25 January 1971) is an Italian former racing driver. Badoer has raced for the Scuderia Italia, Minardi, Forti and most recently, Ferrari teams. In addition to his racing duties, Badoer was one of the active test and reserve dri ...

and

Giancarlo Fisichella Giancarlo Fisichella (; born 14 January 1973), also known as Fisico, Giano or Fisi, is an Italian professional racing driver, also captain of the official ''Nazionale Piloti'' association football team (composed of the racing drivers). He has ...

as they took over Massa's seat for the remainder of the 2009 season. Smedley had previously worked with Fisichella at Jordan. Smedley was involved in an incident at the

2010 German Grand Prix The 2010 German Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Grosser Preis Santander von Deutschland 2010) was a Formula One motor race held on 25 July at the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was the eleventh round of the 201 ...

in which the Ferrari team were found to have breached regulations regarding

team orders In motor racing, team orders is the practice of teams issuing instructions to drivers to deviate from the normal practice of racing against each other as they would against other teams' drivers. This can be accomplished either in advance, simply ...

. As Massa was in the lead of the race Smedley contacted him by radio and said "

Fernando Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...

is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?", a thinly veiled instruction to allow Alonso to pass him to win, which Massa duly complied with. Following the pass on lap 49 Smedley added 'OK mate good lad, stick with him now, sorry.' After the race Ferrari were fined $100,000 for the team orders, but the result was allowed to stand. Smedley continued as Massa's race engineer at Ferrari and moved to Williams when Massa joined them from the 2014 season, heading the team's trackside operations. Smedley left Williams at the end of the 2018 season, one year after Massa had left Formula One. Smedley was awarded an honorary degree ("Doctor of Professional Studies") from

Teesside University , mottoeng = Deeds Not Words , established = 1930 – Constantine Technical College1969 – as Teesside Polytechnic 1992 – gained university status , type = Public , endowment = £0.23 m (2019/20) , chancellor ...

in 2009. In July 2015 he was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Technology from

in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Formula 1 and race engineering. In 2020 Smedley started a low cost racing series (Total Karting, formerly named Electroheads Motorsport) using electric karts, aimed at making motorsport more accessible to beginners.

Career summary

*1997–1998: suspension engineer – Pilbeam Racing Designs *1999: engineer in the test team – Williams (BTCC) *2000: track engineer in

*2001: data acquisition engineer –

(F1) *2002–2003: track engineer –

(F1) *2004–2005: engineer in the test team –

Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari S.p.A. () is the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari and the racing team that competes in Formula One racing. The team is also known by the nickname "The Prancing Horse", in reference to their logo. ...

(F1) *2006–2013: race engineer to

– Scuderia Ferrari (F1) *2014–2018: head of vehicle performance – Williams (F1) *2019–2020: expert technical consultant –

Formula One Group The Formula One Group is a group of companies responsible for the promotion of the FIA Formula One World Championship, and the exercising of the sport's commercial rights. The Group was previously owned by Delta Topco, a Jersey-based company ...

*2020–present: Director of Data Systems –

*2020–present: Founder and Owner �
Total Karting
(formerly named Electroheads Motorsport)

Personal life

Smedley is married to Lucy. They have two sons. They hold fundraising events on Teesside to support the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society (SANDS) after the death of their daughter Minnie in 2007. They are also patrons of Zöe's Place Baby Hospice, a charity for sick babies and young children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smedley, Rob 1973 births Living people Ferrari people Alumni of Loughborough University Auto racing crew chiefs British automotive engineers English expatriates in Italy People from Middlesbrough Williams Grand Prix Engineering