F1 Mechanic

Hi,
Not sure if this is the right place to be however -
My son has always wanted to be an F1 mechanic. Now obviously i understand it is not the kind of job you step off the street into unless your dads Ron Dennis or something but he is about to choose his GCSE subjects and i was wondering what would be his main ones - He is looking at Resistant Materials and Business studies (In case he wants to open his own garage, his desision) Now what options is he looking at moving forward? does anyone know?
Thanks,
Steve.

Hi Steve,

My first boyfriend worked in resistant materials for an F1 team (many years ago).

He studied from what I can remember Maths, Physics, IT and Chemistry at GCSE (the relevant ones), then went on to do the same in A levels, before choosing a degree in Materials Engineering at University.

Obviously I don't know what GCSE's they have about now but these basic ones should stand him in good stead. It might be an idea to write to an F1 teams such as Honda, Williams or McLaren and ask them what they look for before making that final choice.

Good luck to your son, and a bit of advice when he is applying for jobs eventually in F1 be persistent and sometimes gaining field experience in lower formulae is a good way of boosting that CV ;)

Chiara xx

Well, of course Ron Dennis was, famously, an F1 (or Grand Prix) mechanic...although rumour has it is is somewhat reluctant to discuss this part of his past.

Anyway, not sure what quals your son might consider, but if you browse the Jobs section of this website: http://www.autosport...pointments.html you should start getting a feel for the qualifications and experience teams are looking for for that kind of role.

Good luck to your son....and don't let him join the 'Dark Side' in Woking!

What do you mean by "mechanic"? Does he have any inclination of where he'd like to work exactly?

In most of the more technical areas, everyone nowadays has a degree and his GCSEs will matter for university applications, but if he wants a non-scientific, non-technical job, he could be as well of by getting good GCSEs and going to a specific "motorsport" college.

I'd be happy to provide more information if you like, but it'll be a lot easier knowing if he knows what he wants to do (and what it is) or if he's just aiming to get into F1/motorsports in general.

Originally posted by Chiara
Hi Steve,

My first boyfriend worked in resistant materials for an F1 team (many years ago).

He studied from what I can remember Maths, Physics, IT and Chemistry at GCSE (the relevant ones), then went on to do the same in A levels, before choosing a degree in Materials Engineering at University.

Obviously I don't know what GCSE's they have about now but these basic ones should stand him in good stead. It might be an idea to write to an F1 teams such as Honda, Williams or McLaren and ask them what they look for before making that final choice.

Good luck to your son, and a bit of advice when he is applying for jobs eventually in F1 be persistent and sometimes gaining field experience in lower formulae is a good way of boosting that CV ;)

Chiara xx

I've heard of good responses from Renault HR with regards to early careers advice.

People get into F1 through so many different channels, so even then I'd try and get advice from multiple sources, as its really all a mixed bag.

Assuming your son will need a engineering degree:
A friend of mine who got into Cambridge studied chemistry geography physics math biology at a GCSE level. Basically maths and physics would be required for a UK university, for any engineering course, maybe chemistry as well

Originally posted by k1ngy
Hi,
Not sure if this is the right place to be however -
My son has always wanted to be an F1 mechanic. Now obviously i understand it is not the kind of job you step off the street into unless your dads Ron Dennis or something but he is about to choose his GCSE subjects and i was wondering what would be his main ones - He is looking at Resistant Materials and Business studies (In case he wants to open his own garage, his desision) Now what options is he looking at moving forward? does anyone know?
Thanks,
Steve.

Hello K1ngy,

Resistant Materials and Business studies well they didn’t have those kind of things when I was at school, I would recommend as many mathematics type subjects as possible (Mechanics and Pure maths it was call when I was at school), Physics and the other sciences are good also, and a European language, French, German, or Italian... If there is some sort of Computing or Programming qualification that would be very useful to build upon.

Basically Id recommend looking to advancing on to getting the correct A-Levels (if they are still called that) to get onto a good engineering degree course.

Good Luck…

I'm sure there will be dozens of people with more practical advice than this, but I think the best way into F1 for a mechanic is the same way as a driver. Thru the ladder.

Do you have a local circuit, if there's a club FF1600 championship or similar thing locally, go along, get him to introduce himself to the privateer drivers, the small teams etc - volunteer his services to them to help out - so that he's building practical motorsport experience. If he does a good job, they'll be happy to pay him a few quid for a wet weekend at Castle Combe etc. And then it's just progression from there, go and speak to people, ask them what they need etc.

The other line to go down is Formula SAE (Formula Student) - Ross Braun was certainly impressed by what was going on there. When it comes to finding a University, if the one he ends up attending doesn't have a Formula SAE entry, then try and get one started and work on that. A sandwich ( two years, placement year, final year) course could include a year (on a piss poor salary) within an F1 team. A uni housemate of mine did a year at Benetton/Renault as a programmer in his placement year - and there was a job offer for when he completed his course.

In terms of usefull subjects at GCSE - if possible do Maths, Sciences (tripple award, i.e. three subjects if possible), Bus.Stud, Geography, IT, CDT or similar etc. Balance the theoretical with the practical.

Good luck to him - I did quite a few wet weekends at Castle Combe for £50 a weekend - and sometimes it was pure misery, but seing a car you had a tiny part to play in win the FF Festival was utter utter gold.

Doug

Originally posted by hobbes
Assuming your son will need a engineering degree:
A friend of mine who got into Cambridge studied chemistry geography physics math biology at a GCSE level. Basically maths and physics would be required for a UK university, for any engineering course, maybe chemistry as well

You can get in without Physics in a lot of places now, even top univerisites, but I'd agree in suggesting Maths and Physics, anything that teaches you some kind of programming (don't know if thats covered in IT) and a language can be useful.

Cambridge and Oxford are great universities, but there are some very good colleges out there that feed into F1, Imperial College London is another university well known for feeding people into F1 and Oxford Brookes has a very, very good Motorsport department.

Well i am in Imperial College, so if you have any questions just let me know Math is required cause basically they like the 'logic' students develop. Physics just makes it easier, same with chemistry, but it all depends on what engineering course a person chooses. You are right though, computer science would also be very helpfull

Originally posted by hobbes
Well i am in Imperial College, so if you have any questions just let me know Math is required cause basically they like the 'logic' students develop. Physics just makes it easier, same with chemistry, but it all depends on what engineering course a person chooses. You are right though, computer science would also be very helpfull

The only downside with Imperial and Cambridge, really, is that its very easy to get involved with motorsports in the Oxfordshire region, although Oxford don't have an FSAE team I don't think (but Brookes do, it may be a joint venture).

My friend in Cambridge is the one with the F1 dream. Not sure what is going on here, never heard anything relevant yet ( its my first year) but if anybody wants ill gladly find out

Steve,

You've already got some good advice here, but just thought I might as well post this link up for you as well as it might be helpful for your son to read through.

http://www.learndire...es/profile1424/

The other thing I would recommend is talk to as many people already in the field as you can to get a mental picture of what it's really like. It can be long hours and pretty hard work at times.

Originally posted by Chiara
Steve,

You've already got some good advice here, but just thought I might as well post this link up for you as well as it might be helpful for your son to read through.

http://www.learndire...es/profile1424/

The other thing I would recommend is talk to as many people already in the field as you can to get a mental picture of what it's really like. It can be long hours and pretty hard work at times.

Long hours, heavy pressure, needing to have a good grasp of the theoretical and practical side of things, very short deadlines, having to put up with all the celebrities/etc. in your workplace, the extreme disappointment when something you worked on 24/7 for a week fails, or equally bad really is just damned slow, constant flying and working on the move, having to share rooms with other personnel et cetera....

But as a young engineer in F1, who's just been assigned to the race team, I can't think of doing anything else in the world, I'll leave the complaining to the older hands.

Originally posted by F1 Engineer

Long hours, heavy pressure, needing to have a good grasp of the theoretical and practical side of things, very short deadlines, having to put up with all the celebrities/etc. in your workplace, the extreme disappointment when something you worked on 24/7 for a week fails, or equally bad really is just damned slow, constant flying and working on the move, having to share rooms with other personnel et cetera....

But as a young engineer in F1, who's just been assigned to the race team, I can't think of doing anything else in the world, I'll leave the complaining to the older hands.

Just wait until you start getting screaming girls stalking you then you'll be complaining

Originally posted by Chiara


Just wait until you start getting screaming girls stalking you then you'll be complaining

You don't know me at all.

Originally posted by Chiara


Just wait until you start getting screaming girls stalking you then you'll be complaining

Are you one of them Chiara?

Originally posted by hobbes


Are you one of them Chiara?

I'm a bit old for the screaming part ;) don't worry for F1 engineer he is quite safe from me....until he joins Ferrari

Well if he joins ferrari ( or who knows he might be part of ferrari already ) then ill be after him too, but for completely different reasons

Back on subject...before I hijack the thread completely...

here are the addresses for Renault, Williams and Honda.....

Honda Racing F1 Team
Operations Centre
Brackley
Northants
NN13 7BD

Williams F1
Grove,
Wantage,
Oxfordshire
OX12 0DQ

Renault F1 Team UK
Whiteways Technical Centre
Enstone
Oxon OX7 4EE
England

and a useful link from McLaren about careers in F1. Who seem to do a work experience scheme for schoolkids, which might be very insightful.

http://www.mclaren.c...ers/careers.php

The people I know of that got into F1 went through the Leeds Mech Eng department, they have (or had, not seen any of them for a while), a proper vehicle dynamics department which seems to do quite well. When I used to go on their socials the distribution list for weekend events had plenty of motor sport teams in it. Also the Old Bar (union pub), used to do great beer quite cheap.

Steve.

Absolute Taste, the hospitality subsidiary of Mclaren, are looking for a financial controller at the moment (£60k pa plus benefits) so you could always just take up accountancy...

Sorry, that's not helpful is it?

My mate works for Force India, and he done Engineering at school, then he went to college to do an HND Engineering course, then went to work for Extrac Transmissions building the Ford Focus & Skoda Rally boxes, then to Midland/Spyker/Force India.

That was his path

no one has mentioned this yet, but I reckon if your son can bring with him a few million dollar sponsorship with him, he's likely to be hired no matter what degree he has ........

Wow thanks everybody,
I have shown him and he is very thankful for all the responses.

He is doing the usual maths and english and ICT(thats what they call it nowadays lol) Resistant materials covers all things but has welding, mechanisms and dealing with polymers etc within the course.

We live close to Silverstone. Would we just be able to turn up on a race day ie Formula Ford and start talking with the mechanics or teams to try and get him in there as you mentioned?

I have tried emailing many teams and never got anywhere, became a little dipodent but getting the responses from all of you has really helped.

Reece(my son) is leaning more towards working within the engine etc but isnt 100% and is looking at the view of start somewhere and see what i like.

Originally posted by k1ngy
Wow thanks everybody,
I have shown him and he is very thankful for all the responses.

He is doing the usual maths and english and ICT(thats what they call it nowadays lol) Resistant materials covers all things but has welding, mechanisms and dealing with polymers etc within the course.

We live close to Silverstone. Would we just be able to turn up on a race day ie Formula Ford and start talking with the mechanics or teams to try and get him in there as you mentioned?

I have tried emailing many teams and never got anywhere, became a little dipodent but getting the responses from all of you has really helped.

Reece(my son) is leaning more towards working within the engine etc but isnt 100% and is looking at the view of start somewhere and see what i like.

If he's aiming for the technical side a good degree will be a solid foundation. Then getting involved lower down the ladder is a good idea, he could do that through FSAE at university, or as you say perhaps go to some Formula Ford stuff.

I started off by going to FBMW and managed at the end of the day at Donington (I think, I never can remember) hanging around and talking to the mechanics that were still hanging around. And that was a great start, if only to use as a talking point in interviews. Get Reece to offer to work for free one race weekend, just doing menial stuff if he has to, I did and ended up being treated a bit like a VIP, I wandered around asking various people questions and getting tonnes of info and got to watch all the races that day too.

Originally posted by F1 Engineer

If he's aiming for the technical side a good degree will be a solid foundation. Then getting involved lower down the ladder is a good idea, he could do that through FSAE at university, or as you say perhaps go to some Formula Ford stuff.

I started off by going to FBMW and managed at the end of the day at Donington (I think, I never can remember) hanging around and talking to the mechanics that were still hanging around. And that was a great start, if only to use as a talking point in interviews. Get Reece to offer to work for free one race weekend, just doing menial stuff if he has to, I did and ended up being treated a bit like a VIP, I wandered around asking various people questions and getting tonnes of info and got to watch all the races that day too.

sounds like great suggestion, unlike my previous one

Perhaps write to all the teams, introducing himself, detailing what he wants to do with his career and even perhaps asking if a factory tour might be possible.

I once wrote to Benetton to tell them I was making a cardboard model of their current F1 car, did they have any pictures they could send me that might help. I got back an official design room document that was on design paper and unravelled to a length of about 4 foot. I was gobsmacked. I didn't even realise Stepney worked for Benetton ;)

Originally posted by mmmcurry
The people I know of that got into F1 went through the Leeds Mech Eng department, they have (or had, not seen any of them for a while), a proper vehicle dynamics department which seems to do quite well. When I used to go on their socials the distribution list for weekend events had plenty of motor sport teams in it. Also the Old Bar (union pub), used to do great beer quite cheap.

Steve.

longest bar in europe and the cheesy chips there were mega!

And what does a gcse in 'resistant materials' mean?

Originally posted by pRy
Perhaps write to all the teams, introducing himself, detailing what he wants to do with his career and even perhaps asking if a factory tour might be possible.

I once wrote to Benetton to tell them I was making a cardboard model of their current F1 car, did they have any pictures they could send me that might help. I got back an official design room document that was on design paper and unravelled to a length of about 4 foot. I was gobsmacked. I didn't even realise Stepney worked for Benetton ;)

i passed a doodle of an f1 car, newly high nose, with a spitfire type shark mouth painted on to the girl on my right in a physics lesson. next year the jordan was properly adorned. following that they started winning from increased funds due to better sponsorship due to better use of sponsors.
i was sat beside zoe.
do not underestimate the power of nepotism and flirting.

but make sure the father knows who had the idea...

if your kid is doing gcse's now, i'd recommend checking where christian horner's kids are at.

Originally posted by le chat noir
And what does a gcse in 'resistant materials' mean?

Design and technology - DT, when I was at school. (I graduated last year!)

Another link for your info:

http://www.the-mia.c...x.cfm?editID=84

Steve, be persistent don't get disheartened at a few knockbacks. Interest in F1 careers is very fierce, so perhaps start by lowering your sights initially to a lower formula or type of motorsport (such as formula ford, or GP2, or A1 GP or rallying, or BTCC) and push to see if you can get some work experience to give your son a taster of what different areas of motorsport are like.

Many of F1's greats started out in completely different formulas or even different disciplines...Ross Brawn's career started at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority - and look at him now!

Even volunteering your own time and services as a marshall at silverstone might bag you some interesting and useful contacts. As F1 engineer pointed out there are many many routes into F1, but more often than not you have to work to gain experience elsewhere first.

But above all keep at it and be persistent!

Originally posted by Chiara


I'm a bit old for the screaming part ;) don't worry for F1 engineer he is quite safe from me....until he joins Ferrari

so it was you chasing after stepney?

It's true that a company with 85% of employees in R & D is very strange, but it is F1 after all !

It's not implausible for V8Taxicab engineers or S2000 touring car engineers to become world champion race engineers (e.g. Chris Dyer)... in principle the touring car industry is more stable, then the wheel-and-dealing junior formulae indsutry where teams may switch from running 4 cars to running 1 car from year to year depending on who ponies up the cash.

Originally posted by V8 Fireworks
It's true that a company with 85% of employees in R & D is very strange, but it is F1 after all !

It's not implausible for V8Taxicab engineers or S2000 touring car engineers to become world champion race engineers (e.g. Chris Dyer)... in principle the touring car industry is more stable, then the wheel-and-dealing junior formulae indsutry where teams may switch from running 4 cars to running 1 car from year to year depending on who ponies up the cash.

I think that that was the case in the past, but there are now so many applications for everything advertised in F1 that most team personnel are coming from a more traditional background, or through contacts. I've been told o aspiring mechanics/engineers working as truckies to get a foot in the door (though I'd have thought there'd be better experience out there) .

Ask him if he wants to go into aero. Isn't CFD taking off in a big way? If he wants to go that way then, he needs to do maths and physics that heavily involve fluid mechanics at uni. so for GSCE he needs to have a heavy focus on science and maths.

And don't forget to tell your son to find an opportunity to walk up to LH and tell LH - "I want to be your mechanic one day."

;)

Why is everyone talking about University degrees? He said he wanted to be a mechanic, not an engineer. From what I've seen most racing teams outside of F1 will be glad to take on skilled and dedicated mechanics, it's not like there are so many around that they can be picky. But they don't have the resources to teach someone to be a good mechanic. So IMO the steps would be: learn to be a good mechanic in the real world, join a lower level racing team, hope that you can move up to F1 over the years.

Unless things are different in F1. Anyone know anything about the backgrounds of some specific F1 mechanics?

Originally posted by jb_128
Why is everyone talking about University degrees? He said he wanted to be a mechanic, not an engineer. From what I've seen most racing teams outside of F1 will be glad to take on skilled and dedicated mechanics, it's not like there are so many around that they can be picky. But they don't have the resources to teach someone to be a good mechanic. So IMO the steps would be: learn to be a good mechanic in the real world, join a lower level racing team, hope that you can move up to F1 over the years.

Unless things are different in F1. Anyone know anything about the backgrounds of some specific F1 mechanics?

I think it really depends what he wants to do, what area of expertise he wants to work in, and what team he wants to work for - with regards to what qualifications he needs. A mechanic generally would probably need to have at least a HND and an apprenticeship plus having gained experience in a lesser formula.

Anyway we are getting a bit ahead of ourselves as he is still choosing GCSE's at the moment.

Originally posted by jb_128
Why is everyone talking about University degrees? He said he wanted to be a mechanic, not an engineer. From what I've seen most racing teams outside of F1 will be glad to take on skilled and dedicated mechanics, it's not like there are so many around that they can be picky. But they don't have the resources to teach someone to be a good mechanic. So IMO the steps would be: learn to be a good mechanic in the real world, join a lower level racing team, hope that you can move up to F1 over the years.

Unless things are different in F1. Anyone know anything about the backgrounds of some specific F1 mechanics?

Given that most people don't know the difference between a mechanic, a technician or an engineer then it's worth asking the question.

My personal route was all the science and maths at GCSE I could do followed by Maths, Physics and Chemistry A-levels, a Masters in mechanical engineering including two years of Formula Student. I also did nearly two years work experience as an undergrad in the aerospace industry. If you want to learn about dynamics simulation (e.g. ADAMS), CFD or structural design that's a good route - one of the undergrads in my year at the aerospace company went straight to McLaren as a trackside aero guy.

When I was at Uni I met Chris Aylett, head of the MIA. His advice was aim for a first tier supplier rather than pushing straight for F1. I applied for an advertised position as a tyre design analyst six months after Uni, got it, and have spent the last two years as trackside development engineer in MotoGP and will be doing the same role in the Le Mans Series this year.

Ben

I´m old, so please bear with me. In my time we had a spanner man, you know, a guy who wielded the spanners, took thing off, put things on, etc etc. Normally he was a mechanic by trade, having done an apprenticeship which could last anything from 3 to 5 years. Don´t these guys exist any longer? Has everyone who works on a F1 car got a university degree these days, or are these mundane tasks now undertaken by computer controlled robots perhaps?

OK i just want to say thanks again for all of your inputs. It is so refreshing that you can ask 1 question and get all the help that you have given us.
Whilst Reece is only choosing his GCSE results now he understands the importance of what you choose now can influence where you go in the future ie college uni etc.
He does have a parents evening in 2 weeks and with the information that we can collate from this thread we can go armed with the relevant questions for the teachers instead of sitting there listening to them tell what they think Reece should do rather than what he wants to do.
We have discussed work experience which will be coming soon and i have suggested local garages mercedes, audi etc or the local go-cart track (Daytona - where Lewis visited in MK recently) is this worth while? I have tried contacting Red Bull who are local but have heard nothing!! and a ferrari garage offered him work when he finishes school instead!
Some people also talk as if i am the one pushing this and i would like everyone to understand that i am just trying to do my bit to ensure that Reece gets everything he needs at the beginning the same as i did for our eldest son who will be finishing a business studies course this year then going on to sports science and eventually he hopes to get into Loughborough Uni and on to the Olympics.
Ever since Reece was young he has talked about working in an F1 Garage and now as he gets older and to a turning point in his schooling he has chosen mechanic now, as i know that can mean many different avenues ie working on the car to also developing the car ie engineer. I think that the suggestion of going to a track so he can offer services to get an all round feel of what happens and what he likes is a good idea and we are going to Oulton Park on the first round of FF in March.
We fully appreciate any comments, suggestions and your own routes into the motorsport industry to help with the task ahead,
Steve + Reece.

Hi,
Reece has now made his choices after meeting with teachers and reading posts made earlier.
He has chosen Design Technology (Resistant Materials) and Geography. He will already be doing courses in IT as well as Double science, maths, english etc.
All his teachers are very happy with his progress at this stage and with more encouragement could do very well in these subjects and as the next year goes on he will start looking at what he will be more interested in doing (engineering, design etc)
Thank you all again for your help and input.

Originally posted by k1ngy
Hi,
Reece has now made his choices after meeting with teachers and reading posts made earlier.
He has chosen Design Technology (Resistant Materials) and Geography. He will already be doing courses in IT as well as Double science, maths, english etc.
All his teachers are very happy with his progress at this stage and with more encouragement could do very well in these subjects and as the next year goes on he will start looking at what he will be more interested in doing (engineering, design etc)
Thank you all again for your help and input.

No worries Steve Good Luck to Reece for his GCSE's I'm sure they will be a breeze for him ;) let us know how he is getting on from time to time and remember to have some fun as well!

If he wants to be a mechanic, its more about , right time, right place , right experience, he needs to working weekends for a race team, preferably one with a proper budget, even if he does it for nothing, this week's wheel cleaner is next weeks pit wall staff, the weekend after's fuel guy, etc.
Its not unusual for the bolties who work on the cars to be the least qualified team members in terms of qualifications, but the most experienced in terms of hands on time. Nothing beats experience at the sharp end as far as getting these jobs, nobody walks into them without a good background, and its the norm for guys to get jobs on personal reccomendation , rather than interview technique. One of my former colleagues went from office based IT bod to race team fuel rig guy, cos he was big and tall. And he can fix stuff at the track.

On the other hand , if he wants to get into the design side , he needs a good degree, from a good University, and the advice given to me by a Senior Designer is that as so many Universities are offering motorsport degree courses, the value of doing a motorsport based course has been lost a bit, and as such only the best candidates from the right Uni's are even considered by some teams at the top level now.
His advice to me for my lad was to get a good mechanical engineering degree, because there are far more jobs in motorsport that require manufacturing knowledge than there are race team & car build stuff, so more opportunites to get in.

He has to get work experience in a team, and living where you do there are masses of opportunities for this, and the trick is to find a way in , through a friend or neighbour who works there , to get a place.

One of our lads came from Wales for a week , lived with a relative, came back again in the school holidays at his own expense, bagged an apprenticeship, based on his performance , rather than his qualifications,(which he didn't yet have) and is now working in the sport full time, due to his commitment.
Get in, be seen, be good. It works.

Steve,

Just as an addition as your in the MK area, have you though about asking at the Nissan Tech Centre in Cranfield about work experience?

I'm in the main Tech centre in Japan for the next 2 months so can't help I'm afraid and I'm not 100% sure of the process but probably worth a call as I know we have Work Experience kids in (I believe there is one in my department at the moment).

Thanks for your responses - Mechanical Engineering is something that had been bounced around by a teacher previously. I hadnt thought of Cranfield but i will speak to Reece and give them a call. I was just going to go to RedBull as i have tried emailing but no luck so thought we could just turn up and ask to speak with someone?

whatever he does , he needs to do it well.

Dont recall Red Bull having any work experience people in, when it was Jaguar anyway, will find out if thats changed.
When does he need to find a place ??

I believe the De Havilland campus of the University of Hertfordshire runs a degree course specifically tailored towards motor racing engineering - I'm sure it's not the only one.

Originally posted by PhilG
whatever he does , he needs to do it well.

Dont recall Red Bull having any work experience people in, when it was Jaguar anyway, will find out if thats changed.
When does he need to find a place ??

May '09! Oh well no harm in being ready i guess