There’s An Olympic Medalist Secretly Competing In Formula 1

Right now, thousands of the most talented, ferocious competitors are in Paris fighting it out across hundreds of sports for an Olympic medal. Everything from rowing to shooting is covered in the Paris Olympics, except motorsport. But just because motorsport isn’t in the Olympics, doesn’t mean there aren’t any medals to be found in the Formula 1 paddock.

There might not be any medals handed out for drifting or drag racing in Paris this year, but someone on the Formula 1 grid is already the proud owner of an Olympic medal. No, they aren’t a driver, but they are one of the most visible figures you’ll see, or should I say hear, on a race weekend.

The medalist in question is Tom Stallard, who works as Oscar Piastri’s race engineer at McLaren and previously worked with drivers like Jenson Button and Carlos Sainz.

Before joining McLaren, Stallard was a rower and competed in youth competitions in the coxed four events before getting the call to represent Team GB. He won a gold medal at the 2002 World Rowing Championships and went on to represent the UK at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, as per Team GB.

There, he was part of the nine-man team that took home a silver medal for the Men’s Eight, in which each boat comprises eight rowers and a coxswain to tell them when to paddle. In the race, Stallard and his team were pipped to the post by Canada, who took home the gold just 1.22 seconds ahead. The U.S. came home in third after the 2,000m course (that’s 1.2 miles in American.)

Just weeks after the Olympics concluded, Stallard was working at McLaren where he started out on the driver simulator, reports World Rowing. He was soon promoted to become Button’s performance engineer before he made the jump to race engineer, a role he’s held ever since.

Now, you’ll hear him every F1 weekend in the ears of McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who he helped to his first race win a few weeks back in Hungary.