MONTREAL — In the shadows, Stuart Morrison manages communications for the Haas team. Although little known to the general public, this key figure on the team’s chessboard has long lived in Montreal.
The Brit, married to a Canadian, founded his own company, Stuart Morrison Public Relations, which he ran from Montreal for more than 12 years.
“My wife was born in Toronto but grew up in Montreal,” he said on the sidelines of the Canadian Grand Prix on Thursday. After we got married we moved to Montreal as his family lives there. That was in 2004. Both of my children were born here. My son Logan and my daughter Gracie.”
“I love coming back to Montreal for the races. For me it is a free trip home to relatives and friends. We’ve always loved Montreal. It’s a big city, it’s fantastic!”
A return to basics
Morrison took his first steps in F1 as a publicist for Justin Wilson during his brief career with Minardi and Jaguar in the early 2000s to build his own F1 team in 2014.
He was able to get in touch with Günther Steiner through sponsor Go Daddy, a Haas partner at NASCAR. The team settled in England instead of the United States, but he didn’t hesitate to embark on the adventure with his small family, even though his children were 4 and 9 years old.
“We were really happy in Montreal,” he said. I had no intention of leaving Montreal. And finally I got the job. We said to ourselves, “You know what? It’s going to be a great life experience for our kids to go to another country and live there.”
“The kids got used to it. We always try to come back when we can. They are proud Canadians.”
The key
Morrison rose quickly through the ranks at Haas and has had to deal with some hot acts over the years. There was in particular Romain Grosjean’s horrific accident on November 29, 2020 when his single-seater caught fire at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Then Nikita Mazepin lost his steering wheel that season, partly as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine but also because of his disappointing performances. Two crisis management situations that Morrison handled perfectly.
“Because we don’t have many levels of leadership, the communication channel is very direct,” he said. Communication means saying the right thing at the right time. Of course, when Romain had his accident, my phone didn’t ring. Journalists asked me what I knew. The idea in this case is to group the information first.”
A big name
Haas apparently wants to avoid a catastrophe for a while. Despite everything, media interest remains high because a certain Mick Schumacher is at the wheel of one of their single-seaters.
Michael’s son has certainly endured a difficult season riddled with serious accidents, but Morrison makes a point of supporting him, as does the rest of the team.
“There is definitely interest and goodwill in the world of motorsport; People want him to be okay. He draws attention to himself with his last name. Michael was such a legend. People want his son to be successful.”
“It is important to us to offer him a favorable environment. Last year we didn’t have a good car. But Mick has done a good job of managing that media attention.”