Unsung hero - Craig Wilson.

Craig Wilson joined Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda as race engineer to Jenson Button at the start of this season.

Before beginning his tenure with the team he worked for Williams F1 and it was there, in 2000 when he was engineering Ralf Schumacher's car, that he first met the young Brit.

So when Button opted to join B.A.R at the end of '02 it seemed too good a chance to miss for Wilson to join him. Thus far this new partnership has proved a fruitful one, as Jenson sits on 8 Championship points after a string of excellent qualifying performances and fine race drives.

Wilson began his engineering career after completing a master's degree in Aeronautical engineering at Imperial College, London, followed by a MSc in Automotive engineering at Cranfield. After graduating, he joined Paul Stewart Racing as a vehicle dynamics engineer before moving into F1 first with Tyrrell and then with Williams.

A race engineer's job is a highly pressurised one, not to mention diverse. As Wilson explains, when the cars are running over a race weekend, the pressure is really on: "When the cars are about to go out on track we'll have a quick final briefing with Honda and the driver before the cars leave the garage. Then it's a case of constantly monitoring the car's progress, speaking with Jenson and dealing with all the crew. As well as that you're always analysing what's happening with the car and what the competition are up to."

The hard work doesn't stop there. Once the cars have finished for the day, there's still a raft of tasks to complete: "In the evening our time is mostly spent analysing results and planning the tactics for the following day. We're always looking ahead. We have to constantly judge what we're doing at any given moment while keeping an eye on what to do next."

Of course it helps that he has a good working relationship with his driver: "I get on with Jenson extremely well", comments Wilson. "He's an easy-going character and easy to deal with too. Myself and my assistant engineer, Andrew Shovlin, work very closely with Jenson to get the best out of the car and out of him. To have a good understanding of both Jenson and the car we've needed to build up a strong relationship. Jenson understands the way we say things and is able to build descriptions that we understand and can work with too. That's important."

How about competition with "the other side of the garage"?

"Of course there's a healthy level of competition - with the drivers, the engineers and the rest of the crew, but that's a positive competition with a good level of interaction. We'd never do anything to disadvantage one another."

After a strong fourth place finish for Button in Austria, Wilson enters the Monaco Grand Prix weekend in good spirits. It may be hard job, but the challenge of this weekend - and of looking ahead to the rest of the season - is one that he clearly relishes.