Tom Stallard, from oar power to horse power

Formerly a silver medalist in Great Britain’s men’s eight at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Tom Stallard’s life after rowing has gone from powering an oar to horse power. Stallard is now a Formula 1 Race Engineer at McLaren Racing. Among many other duties, he is the voice heard over the radio in discussion with Spanish driver Carlos Sainz Jr during race weekends.

Stallard started rowing at the age of 13 with his father Matt who is a former rower at the University of London. He quickly advanced to rowing at a high level, racing for Great Britain at the World Rowing Junior Championships in 1996 before joining Cambridge University in 1999, and embracing a very successful rowing career.

His achievements are impressive. Stallard took part in four University Boat Races for Cambridge from 1999 – 2002, winning twice, and was the Cambridge President in 2002. ​He gained his first senior Great Britain vest when he won gold in the coxed four at the 2002 World Rowing Championships and he also won silver for Team GB at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

But even before he started rowing Stallard wanted to do motorsports. He did a motorsports-focused course at Cambridge and had some work experience in the sport. When McLaren called, it was a no-brainer.

“I was leaving the country with the GB rowing team for our pre-2008 Olympics altitude training camp in Silvretta, Austria when I had a phone call asking me when I could start at McLaren.”

Straight after the Beijing Olympics, at the age of 30, Stallard stopped rowing and joined McLaren.

With McLaren Racing, Stallard’s professional career has been as successful as in the eight. He started working on the driver simulator, moved on to become former F1 World Champion Jenson Button’s performance engineer at the factory, he was then promoted to Race Engineer for Button, Stoffel Vandoorne and lately, Spanish driver Carlos Sainz Jr.

The Race Engineer primarily acts as the link between the team and the driver. He is the single point of contact for the driver whenever he is in the car and play a large part in determining car setup, which is crucial to performance over a race weekend.

In F1, Stallard found the competing, the teamwork, the comradery that he embraced in rowing.

“The big difference is that in rowing we tend to focus entirely on the athlete. We all have similar boats and similar oars, so we believe that just need to have the best crew to win.

“In motor racing, a lot of the driver’s job is to evaluate the car and suggest ways to improve it. We are much more focused on how to get the best out of the car and find harmony between the driver and the car. I think the correct place to be is middle ground between the two.”

Stallard’s experience as a former Olympic medalist has been praised by the people at McLaren. “One of the things you quickly learn in rowing is to get the best out of the team you have around you. This is super applicable to any business, but certainly to motor racing.”

Still living in Henley-on-Thames, Stallard goes to the Leander Rowing Club quite often, but, he admits that has not been in a boat for a long time now.

“I’m away for so many races, it’s not really possible to do the level of rowing that would be satisfying to me. I miss it a bit, I miss the racing side of rowing but I don’t really miss the feeling you get when every decision you make makes the boat faster or slower, the level of intensity and focus you need on yourself.

“The Olympic medal still is my favorite memory of racing. But in Beijing, the race I enjoyed the most was obviously the heat. It was the pinnacle in terms of performance. We had a fantastic race and beat the Americans quite comfortably, whereas in the final we only beat them by a canvas. The heat is where we really peaked, and unfortunately, we weren’t able to repeat the same performance on the finals’ day against the Canadians.”

Across his rowing memories, Stallard remembers loving the training in Silvretta. “But I was the one guy that really disliked Lucerne.  Although it’s beautiful, it’s so bouncy and difficult to row on.”

In terms of success, Stallard says it would be; “A close tie between the Olympic medal, the World Championships gold in 2002 and the Boat Race. The pressure at the start of the Boat Race is pretty intense with the spectators, the helicopters flying above you. I really enjoyed it.”

He also remembers doing a pair with Matthew Pinsent, “where I was at stroke and he was at bow. It was quite funny because I thought the only way to get the best out of him was to put the rate super high, so we rowed around 38, 39 strokes per minute!”

From oar power to horse power, Stallard’s success has been undeniable.  In addition to his prominent role in helping the “Smooth Operator” Carlos Sainz Jr, he has established himself as one of the most respected race engineers in Formula 1.