THE IRISH had a hand in Max Verstappen's historic victory over Lewis Hamilton in the F1 title win on Sunday.
Red Bull's Trackside Control Engineer is a man called Michael Manning, from Innishannon in Cork. This comes from reports in local publication Cork Beo.
The Cork native said his main area of focus is the calibration and configuration of the onboard computer, known as the ECU.
"We use that to control the gearbox, the clutch, and the differential for both optimizing gear shifts and also launch performance."
For people new to F1 this means Max Verstappen coming past the line in a quicker time is only possible due to the ECU. He wouldn't be able to overtake his rival Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes without it
Congratulations to MTU Electronic Engineering Alumnus, Michael Manning, Trackside Control Engineer, who helped Max Verstappen and Red Bull to F1 victory yesterday https://t.co/Ke7u182Wzl
— Munster Technological University (@MTU_ie) December 13, 2021
Manning took up engineering at Cork Institute of Technology and would soon be part of Eddie Jordan's F1 team, a year after graduating.
He only got to Eddie for about a week due to the Midland Group's acquisition of the team prior to the 2005 season.
He's now spent 11 years with Red Bull and has Team Lotus, Force India F1, and the Jordan Grand Prix to add to his impressive CV.
The celebrations 7,500 kilometers away - in Kilmore, Innishannon replicated the scenes in Abu Dhabi.
Verstappen won his first Formula One title with an incredible last-lap victory in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix yesterday.
In the winner-takes-all race, the Red Bull driver finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton to seize the lead.
Winning in Formula One requires more than just a great driver, and Cork's own Michael Manning had a massive role in Red Bull's historic win on Sunday evening.
