Red Bull mechanic left with ‘scars’ after ‘pain in the a**’ F1 hazard draws blood
Red Bull mechanic Calum Nicholas ahead of the restart at the 2023 Australian Grand Prix
Calum Nicholas, the former Red Bull mechanic, has revealed that he has been left with scars from handling the ‘aero rakes’ used for F1 testing.
Nicholas spent a decade at Red Bull Racing between 2015 and 2025, working as a senior engine technician for the Milton Keynes-based team.
Red Bull mechanic left with ‘scars’ from F1 testing aero rakes
The former Marussia mechanic announced in February that he had left the garage for good, taking a new role as a Red Bull Racing ambassador.
Aero rakes are regularly spotted during testing to help teams measure the air pressure over the car, providing the teams with data in real time as the car circulates on track.
Taking to social media, Nicholas has revealed that the devices were responsible for many an injury during his time in the garage.
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He wrote: “I can’t tell you how many scars I have from working around these things during pre-season testing.
“And even when you were bleeding, you’d still be more worried about whether you’d broken it or not.”
Nicholas’s message was accompanied by a laughter emoji.
He went on to describe the aero rakes as “thorny skin magnets”, revealing that he has been caught by them in the finger, elbow and neck over the years.
Asked by a fan to explain the repair process after breaking an aero rake, he quipped: “The process for me? Apologise to the sparky, then walk away before I make it worse.”
He added: “Thankfully, they’re usually only on for the first couple of runs of the day. But yea [sic], pain in the a**!”
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Nicholas’s latest social media posts come after he took exception in September to a fan’s suggestion that F1 mechanics have a “three-second work shift” due to today’s fast pit-stop times.
Responding to the fan, who later deleted his post and apologised for his remark, Nicholas said: “This is why so few people in the paddock interact on here by the way. Bs opinions like this. It’s embarrassing.
“Average salary for an F1 Tech is closer to £60k by the way. The average working week is about 70 hours.
“Most fly economy, and nobody gets paid more for being on the pit crew.”
He added: “My first salary travelling the world in F1 at 22 was £42k.
“With no responsibilities at home, it felt like I’d hit the lottery.”
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