Brenda Wong
Debut had the exclusive opportunity to grill British Formula One racing team Manor Racing for their top tips on getting a career in motorsport engineering. Read on for some seriously great engineering careers advice:
Formula 1 is a competitive space, both for sport and careers, how can students stand out and make a difference when applying and working for motorsport or other engineering careers?
Securing a graduate role within Formula One is highly competitive and as such, excellent academic qualifications are a prerequisite. Beyond this, anything students can do to gain experience of applying their academic knowledge in a relevant practical environment helps their CV stand out from the crowed ad helps them to perform well in interviews.
Motorsport is at the forefront of design and engineering. How can students ensure they are aware of and experienced in the most current methods and skills?
This is always difficult due to the competitive and secretive nature of motorsport teams. However, anything students can do to gain experience of their chosen field within a motorsport environment will be extremely valuable. Student placements with Formula One teams do exist, and offer a great insight into the industry, but also consider trying to secure a placement with the many other motorsport formulae or design consultancies.
What are the top misconceptions about a career in Formula One?
It’s not all glamorous weekends away with champagne on a Sunday afternoon! It’s a hugely rewarding career, but it is a high pressure environment and requires a lot of dedication and hard work.
What are your thoughts on increasing diversity of talent in the motorsport industry? It would be great to see more women and ethnic minorities become engineers, after all.
Definitely, and at Manor Racing we are proactive in our recruitment of new employees from all backgrounds. For example over 25% of our staff are from overseas, and the number of women attracted to our engineering roles is increasing.
Engineering is sometimes perceived to be extremely technical and ‘brainy’. What are the soft skills young people need in order to get a career as a Formula 1 engineer?
We recruit tenacious, team players who are great communicators, committed to our cause, ready for change, have a flexible mind-set and an excellent work ethic.
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