“I graduated from the University of Glasgow in 2002 and at that time there were just no opportunities available in F1,” he admits.
The only solution was to work his way into the sport from a different angle, and Craig’s path took him into an area of huge growth at the time – computational fluid dynamics.
“I took a position as CFD Engineer at one of the simulation vendors, ANSYS Fluent – who are actually a technical partner of Oracle Red Bull Racing,” he explains. “I knew that they supplied several teams up and down the grid and after joining them I ended up becoming a Technical Support Engineer for Red Bull, Williams and what was Jordan. It was through this connection that I joined Red Bull Racing in 2006 as a CFD Engineer in the Aerodynamics department.”
Over the next 16 years, Craig’s work helped the team to four Constructors’ and five Drivers’ World Championship titles. Along the way he rose to become Chief Aerodynamicist, in 2018, though he picks the work he did on the Team’s first four title-winning machines as a major achievement from that period.
“I worked on all areas of the car throughout my time in the Aero department,” he says, “but I was heavily involved in the development and simulation of the exhaust blown diffusers on the championship-winning cars from RB6 through to RB9.”
In April 2022 he stepped up again, becoming Chief Designer and taking on the responsibility of leading the Design Office and R&D department, a role he says owes much to his previous work.
“My background in aerodynamics and simulation has been very useful for making sure that Enrico Balbo, Ben Waterhouse and myself all work together to ensure that we are delivering the best possible race car to track.”
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