Bernadette Collins facts for kids

Bernadette "Bernie" Collins is a top expert in Formula One (F1) racing. She works as a strategy analyst for Sky Sports and F1TV. Before this, she was a strategy engineer for the Aston Martin F1 team.

Bernadette was born in Northern Ireland. She started her career at McLaren in 2009. This was right after she finished her studies at Queen's University Belfast. Three years later, she became a performance engineer. By 2014, she was leading this role full-time. She even worked with the 2009 F1 World Champion, Jenson Button.

In 2015, she joined the Force India team. She helped them finish fourth in the Constructors' Championship in 2016. Bernadette was also an ambassador for a UK government campaign in 2012. In 2016, Forbes magazine listed her as one of their "30 Under 30" for Manufacturing & Industry in Europe.

Bernadette Collins' Story

Early Life and School

Bernadette Collins was born around 1985 or 1986. She grew up in Maguiresbridge, a village in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. She went to Tattygar Primary School. Her father worked in a garage, but not as a mechanic. Bernadette said she was a bit of a "tom-boy." She enjoyed building and taking apart farm machines with her dad.

Even though she liked working with machines, she wasn't sure about her future job. She spent five years at Mount Lourdes Grammar School, an all-girls school. Eventually, she chose to study mechanical engineering at Queen's University Belfast. She picked this because she loved math and physics. In her class of 30 students, only three were girls.

Her interest in motor racing grew in her last two years at university. She joined the Formula Student program. In this program, university teams design, build, and race small formula-style cars.

Her Career in Racing

Students working on a car for the Formula Student Programme.

After the Formula Student program, Bernadette saw a job ad for McLaren. This was a famous Formula One racing team. She applied for their graduate trainee program before she even graduated in 2009. She wasn't sure she would get the job. But she visited the McLaren Technology Centre and took some online tests. She got a spot in the program in 2009.

Her job meant she moved to different departments every three months. This helped her learn about all the different roles. During her first year, she worked on the transmissions of McLaren's cars. She also volunteered as an engineer at GP3 Series races. This helped her gain more experience.

Later, McLaren offered her a part-time job with their GT sports car team. She helped manage their carbon emissions, which was an area she wanted to work in. In 2012, she became a performance engineer. Her first time working trackside was at the 2012 German Grand Prix. In June that year, the UK government named her one of their "Make it in Great Britain's 30 Under 30." She became an ambassador for the campaign.

In 2013, she worked as a race engineer for the United Autosports GT team. In late 2013, McLaren's main performance engineer was away. Bernadette temporarily took over for two races. She then got the job full-time for the 2014 season. She worked closely with 2009 World Champion Jenson Button. They had a very good working relationship.

In May 2015, Bernadette left McLaren. She joined Force India as a performance and senior strategy engineer. She worked with driver Nico Hülkenberg. Her goal was to become an operations engineer. That year, she helped the team get a podium finish with Sergio Pérez at the 2015 Russian Grand Prix. In 2016, she helped them finish fourth in the Constructors' Championship. She was also featured in Forbes magazine's "30 Under 30" list for Manufacturing & Industry in Europe.

She continued to work for the same team, which later changed its name to Aston Martin. She was the head of race strategy from 2020. She left the team after the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix. Bernadette said she left because the F1 race calendar was getting too long and tiring.

In 2022, she joined F1 TV as an analyst. The next year, Bernadette joined Sky Sports for their Formula One coverage. She started at the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. She now analyzes race strategy during select race weekends. She also provides commentary and does gridwalks. In 2023, Queen's University Belfast gave her an honorary degree for her work in sport. She also co-wrote a book in 2024 called How to Win a Grand Prix: From Pit Lane to Podium with journalist Maurice Hamilton.

Personal Life

Bernadette Collins is engaged to Ryan McGarva, who used to be a mechanic.