Ruth Buscombe facts for kids

Ruth Buscombe (born December 21, 1989) is a British engineer who works in Formula One motorsport. She is also a presenter for F1 TV. Ruth studied at the University of Cambridge and earned a top degree in engineering.

She started her career in Formula One with Scuderia Ferrari in 2012. There, she worked as a race strategist. Later, in November 2015, Ruth joined the Haas F1 Team as their strategy engineer. She then moved to Sauber in September 2016. At Sauber, she helped the team do well in the 2016 Formula One World Championship. Ruth left Sauber at the end of the 2023 season. She then became an F1 TV presenter. Ruth Buscombe is also an ambassador for the Dare to be Different group.

About Ruth Buscombe

Early Life and School

Ruth Buscombe shared in an interview that as a child, she dreamed of many things. She wanted to be a princess, then an astronaut, and finally, she wanted to work in Formula One. She became interested in motor racing when she was 11 years old. Ruth looked up to famous Formula One engineers like James Allison and Paddy Lowe.

She went to Forest School, Walthamstow, where she really enjoyed math. She loved solving problems. Some of her teachers tried to tell her not to become an engineer. They wondered why she wanted to work in an industry mostly made up of men. When she was 18, Ruth was in a serious road accident.

Ruth went on to study Aerospace and Aerothermal Engineering at the University of Cambridge. For her master's project, she studied how the drag reduction system works. She worked with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, which is the main group for motorsport. Her supervisor was Tony Purnell, who used to lead the Jaguar team. Ruth finished her degree with top honors in 2012.

Her Career in Formula One

Right after graduating in 2012, Ruth Buscombe started working in Formula One. She joined the Scuderia Ferrari team as a simulation development engineer. In this role, she created and used special computer programs. In March 2013, she was promoted to a race strategist. She worked at Ferrari's main office in Maranello, Italy.

From the factory, Ruth helped make important strategy decisions for drivers like Felipe Massa and later Kimi Räikkönen. She stayed with Ferrari until the end of 2015. Then, in November, she joined the new team Haas F1 as their strategy engineer. This job meant she worked directly at the race tracks and on the pitwall. In February 2016, she also joined the Dare to be Different campaign. This group encourages more girls and women to get involved in motorsport.

Ruth's strategies helped the main driver, Romain Grosjean, finish in the top six in the first two races of the 2016 season. These races were in Australia and Bahrain. She left Haas in June 2016. Three months later, in September, Sauber hired her. She started her new job at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

At Sauber, Ruth created a strategy that helped Felipe Nasr finish ninth in the Brazilian race. This result helped Sauber move ahead of Manor Racing in the Constructors' Championship. In 2017, at the 2017 Spanish Grand Prix, her strategy was key. It helped Pascal Wehrlein finish eighth, earning the team their first points of the season.

Ruth left her role as Head of Race Strategy at Sauber at the end of the 2023 season. In early May 2024, it was announced that she would become an F1 TV presenter for the 2024 season. Her first time presenting was during the first practice session for the 2024 Miami Grand Prix.