"Samuel David "Sam" Michael" is sporting director at McLaren, a Formula One constructor. He was born in Western Australia and grew up in Canberra. After studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of New South Wales with a thesis on data acquisition systems for racing cars, he worked with the Formula Holden team. The team owner, Gregg Siddle, employed him on a part-time basis so that Michael could continue his studies.

He was recruited by Team Lotus/Lotus in 1993. After Team Lotus went bankrupt in 1994 Gary Anderson (motorsport)/Gary Anderson, the chief designer at Jordan Grand Prix, took Michael on. He established the team's research and development department. He spent two years working in the Jordan factory on data acquisition. He also installed a seven-post rig for simulating suspension (vehicle)/suspension movement and designing an active differential.

In 1997, Michael joined the Jordan test team. In 1998 he was promoted to race engineer for Ralf Schumacher. When the German departed to go to Williams in 1999, Michael inherited Heinz-Harald Frentzen. The Michael/Frentzen partnership was successful, resulting in a win at the 1999 French Grand Prix/French Grand Prix at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, and then again at the 1999 Italian Grand Prix/Italian Grand Prix at Autodromo Nazionale Monza/Monza.

More Sam Michael on Wikipedia.

This morning's running was wet and although Mark managed to put more mileage on the FW28 we had to stop mid afternoon with a known gearbox problem. Alex was undertaking some tire testing for Bridgestone in the FW27C and also stopped mid afternoon with a fuel pump failure.

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I believe all the teams are looking into it.

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The most important thing is to re-establish ourselves as a top team. We want to make sure we reverse that slide.

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At such an early stage to have the fastest lap in Bahrain and now have both cars on the second row for the second grand prix in Malaysia with so many new partnerships is great for the team.

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He should be fine. We'll talk to him again after this race weekend and if he is okay next week, then we'll want him to run for a day at Silverstone.

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Today, Mark and Nico were both on duty in Barcelona. Both drivers concentrated on long runs, working on set-up, brake and tyre development. Nico will be joined by Alex for tomorrow's final day of the four day test.

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Mark and Nico both worked on tire testing, while Nico also did some brake cooling work. We had a small problem with the gearbox on Mark's car which was the only hindrance as it cost us some downtime during the day.

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Despite strong winds which lasted for most of the day, we still managed to continue putting mileage on the engine and gearbox. We also completed some tyre testing, as well as brake and general set-up work.

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Now we will prepare the car for tomorrow's qualifying when we expect to be competing as a front-runner.

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