Bernadette Collins facts for kids

Bernadette "Bernie" Collins is an expert who helps explain Formula One race strategy for Sky Sports and F1TV. Before this, she was a top strategy engineer for the Aston Martin F1 team from Northern Ireland.

Bernie started her career as a trainee with McLaren in 2009. This was right after she finished her studies at Queen's University Belfast. Just a few years later, she became a performance engineer. By 2014, she was leading that role full-time, working with the 2009 World Champion, Jenson Button. In 2015, she joined Force India and helped the team finish 4th in the Constructors' Championship the next year.

Bernie was also an ambassador for the UK government's "Make it in Great Britain" campaign in 2012. In 2016, she was even featured on Forbes magazine's "30 Under 30" list for Manufacturing & Industry in Europe.

About Bernie Collins

Her Early Life and School

Bernie Collins was born around 1985 or 1986. She grew up in a small village called Maguiresbridge in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Her father worked in a garage, and Bernie enjoyed helping him build and take apart farm machines. She called herself a "tom-boy" because of this.

Even though she liked working with machines, Bernie wasn't sure what she wanted to do for a career. After five years at Mount Lourdes Grammar School, she decided to study mechanical engineering at Queen's University Belfast. She chose this because she loved mathematics and physics. In her class of 30 students, Bernie was one of only three girls.

Her interest in motor racing started in her last two years at university. She joined the annual Formula Student program. This program, run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, lets university students design, build, test, and drive small racing cars.

Her Career Journey

The Formula Student Programme helps students learn about racing cars.

After the Formula Student program, but before she graduated in 2009, Bernie saw an advertisement. It was for a graduate trainee program with the McLaren Formula One racing team. She applied for it through her university's engineering department.

Bernie wasn't sure she would get the job, but she visited the McLaren Technology Centre. After some online tests, she secured a spot in the program in 2009. Her job involved moving to different departments every three months. This helped her learn about each role and how the team worked together. During her first year, Bernie worked on the transmissions of McLaren's cars. She also volunteered as an engineer at GP3 Series races to gain more experience.

Later, Bernie was offered a part-time job with the McLaren GT sports car racing team. She helped manage their greenhouse emissions, which was something she wanted to do. In 2012, she was promoted to a performance engineer. That June, the UK government named her to their "30 Under 30" list for the "Make it in Great Britain" campaign. She then became an ambassador for the campaign.

In 2013, she worked as a race engineer for the United Autosports GT team. When McLaren's main performance engineer was away, Bernie temporarily took over his role for two Formula One races in late 2013. She then got the job full-time for the 2014 season. She worked closely with the 2009 World Champion, Jenson Button, and they had a great working relationship.

In May 2015, Bernie left McLaren to join Force India. She became a performance and senior strategy engineer for driver Nico Hülkenberg. Her goal was to become an operations engineer. That season, she helped the team achieve a podium finish with Sergio Pérez at the 2015 Russian Grand Prix. In 2016, she helped the team finish fourth in the Constructors' Championship. Forbes magazine also featured her in their "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 to 2022. In 2022, she joined F1 TV as an analyst. In 2023, she started working for Sky Sports on their F1 coverage. She now helps explain race strategy during select race weekends.