With over a decade’s experience at the forefront of Formula 1 Bernie was Head of Race Strategy for the Aston Martin Formula 1 team and is an accomplished strategy engineer. She has held senior strategy and performance engineering roles and played a central role in the teams she has worked for.
Bernie Collins developed a passion for mechanics at a young age and studied mechanical engineering at Queen's University Belfast. After graduating she secured a place on the McLaren Formula 1 racing team’s graduate trainee programme. She was then promoted to the role of performance engineer and went on to serve as race engineer for the United Autosports GT team. Her big break came when she was offered a temporary role as McLaren’s primary performance engineer in Formula 1. Following this, Bernie was offered the full-time position working closely with Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button.
Bernie started working with the Force India team as a Performance and Strategy Engineer, supporting team driver Nico Hülkenberg and helping the team to achieve a podium finish for Sergio Pérez at the Russian Grand Prix. She then became the Head of Race Strategy for the Aston Martin F1 Team. The role saw her leading race strategy, guiding the team and its drivers as they sought to maximise the championship points achieved at each Grand Prix.
She then joined the Sky Sports F1 broadcasting team and contributes to Formula 1’s official website and digital channels, providing detailed insights on race strategy and helping fans to understand the complexity of decisions made. In her speeches Bernie considers how to perform under pressure, pressure point decisions and how to build a team.
Selected as one of the Forbes 30 under 30 young rising stars of manufacturing for the Make It in Great Britain campaign, Bernie has also been named in The Manufacturer’s Top 100 UK Role Models list.
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