Rob Smedley: “I cried for about an hour after Massa lost the 2008 title – it was so intense…”
F1 Beyond The Grid
karenellenbevan
4.7 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 28 November 2018
⏱️ 78 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, for the first time on Beyond The Grid, presented by Bose, we’re not speaking to a driver or a team boss, but to an engineer – and someone who’s been directly involved of some of the biggest moments in F1 in the past 20 years. Rob Smedley is probably best known to most fans as Felipe Massa’s long-standing Race Engineer, and in that role he experienced the full gamut of emotions, from the elation of race wins to the heartbreak of a narrow title loss, and the horror of seeing ‘his’ driver severely injured.
We also talk to him about working for Ferrari, issuing controversial team orders, his impending departure from Williams, and why Michael Schumacher – a man he worked so closely with – was much more than a driver…
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Rob Smudley and you're listening to Beyond the Grid. |
| 0:14.5 | Hi everyone, it's TC here with another episode of Beyond the Grid, |
| 0:18.3 | presented by Bose Quiet Comfort 352 Wireless Headphones. |
| 0:22.8 | This week, for the first time in the series, we're speaking to an engineer, |
| 0:26.7 | the brains behind the brawn in the pit lane, if you will. |
| 0:29.7 | My guest is a guy who's worked in F1 for 20 years, and he's won races with the very best. |
| 0:35.1 | He's worked on great cars, with great teams, and with world champion drivers, |
| 0:39.2 | and he's also been known to deliver an amusing radio message or two. |
| 0:42.8 | I'm talking, of course, about Rob Smudley. |
| 0:45.9 | He's worked for Jordan Ferrari and Williams, although his tenure as head of performance |
| 0:50.0 | engineering at Williams came to an end last weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. |
| 0:54.7 | Now Rob has a load of offers on the table, and while he ponders what to do next in his career, |
| 0:59.9 | we thought it the perfect time to catch up. |
| 1:02.4 | So get ready for a different kind of conversation to what we've brought you so far, |
| 1:05.9 | but one that's every bit as enjoyable. |
| 1:09.3 | Rob, welcome to Beyond the Grid. |
| 1:11.3 | Great to have you with us. |
| 1:12.7 | You're wearing Williams blue for the last time here in Abu Dhabi. |
| 1:17.8 | Emotional weekend for you, I guess. |
| 1:20.6 | Yeah, a little bit. |
| 1:22.2 | I tend not to get too emotional about work, to be honest. |
| 1:26.5 | I think I used to, I don't know whether it's an age thing, to be honest. |
... |
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