Getting a Job in F1

[MadMatt]

I am also doing an MSc in motorsport at the moment, and have the feeling that finding a job in motorsport is extremely difficult at the moment. I know few students that graduated in 2012 and are still looking for a job. My interest is not really in F1 or circuit racing, which makes it even more difficult I think.

There are plenty of opportunities out there. Some of them pay, some don't. There are some pretty big name organizations who have a tough time finding good engineers, so the need is there.

Well, pardon for being negative, but seeing how many teams are closing, losing sponsorship or other manufacturer contracts, I really have the feeling there is some sort of crisis. We don't get much information (tips) or links in the business at school (have the feeling its the same in many places).

[Jersey Tom]

Teams come and go, yes. I haven't seen any sort of crisis though. Not that racing is a huge industry to begin with either, keep that in mind. Race team budgets and staffing are total chump change compared to the automotive and transport industries on the whole.

Have you looked at the Autosport job appointments? Always a rotation there. Or what's the other website... Race Staff? To the point of getting yourself established.. you could work for a supplier. A consultant. An OEM. You could intern somewhere.

Everyone's path is unique. Here I am, and I don't have an advanced degree in motorsport-specific engineering. I don't have an advanced degree, period. I haven't even taken a single formal automotive or vehicle dynamics class in my life (though I did get hands on experience). Same can be said of a number of people I've worked with. If we could do it, so you can you (and I only graduated ~5-6 years ago).

[cranclive]

F1 careers - industry perspective

I was at Autosport International at the NEC, Birmingham, UK, yesterday. There I met a number of industry figures we work with here at Cranfield. They are involved in graduate recruitment in their respective F1 companies. These persons are engineers who effectively manage the recruitment. They are not HR managers. They are the decision makers regarding employment. As engineers they know who they want. One senior engineer has over a 1,000 applicants chasing between 6 and 9 posts.

They re-affirmed that candidates for their graduate engineering positions must have BOTH MATHS AND PHYSICS 'A' levels or their international equivalent. The undergraduate degree result must be a minimum of a 2.1 or its international equivalent. They like to see a combination of a first degree such as mechanical engineering, automotive engineering, aerodynamics plus a specialist Masters such as the Cranfield programme in motorsport. Universities should be those known to offer credible degree programmes. Reputation of the undergraduate institution is an important consideration. Undergraduate degrees with motorsport in the title are viewed with suspicion. The view is a first degree should provide the candidate with the underpinnings for an engineering career through the academic rigour in the course. Specialise at Masters' level.

PhD candidates usually come in with industrial experience obtained in another sector. Few F1 teams actively support PhDs because of the timescales, although we do have some research students here working on motorsport related projects. Often they are already employed by the sponsoring company.

[Richard]

Cranclive - Out of interest, do you have EngD's? We find them to be a useful route because the student spends more time with us, and they tend to be more applied than PhDs.

[Work_in_f1]

Hi Ash

I found your question online and wanted to give you a quick reply. I am a senior F1 engineer and I get asked these sorts of questions all the time by friends or family members. I've set a up a blog where I'm writing some pieces on what to do in order to give yourself the best chance of getting a job in Formula 1 (or any motorsport for that matter), sharing my own experiences and my knowledge of recruitment from this side of the fence.

To answer your specific questions, I presume you are doing some kind of technical subjects for A-Level, namely Maths & Physics ? These subjects was correct as these pretty much fundamental to any engineer level job within F1 these days. The replies from Jersey Tom and copperkipper were pretty accurate I would say.

At this point there is no need to specialise at all beyond the above. Most designers and race engineer types in F1 have studied mechanical engineering, and even if they haven't then no-one will turn you away for choosing Mechanical Engineering.

If you are certain that you wanted to pursue aerodynamics as opposed to mechanical subjects then you could do an Aero course at University but that will pretty much send you down that path and then mechanical type design will be something you would need to cut across to which might not be that easy.

Personally, your degree is just a measure of your actual intelligence and aptitude for mathematical understanding. The subject is actually secondary. If you can get a good degree in a relevant subject then the job is done. No specific degree or specialist course is a free ticket to F1 - it takes all sorts. If I were you I would try and stick to a mainstream engineering education but at the same time get out there and learn about real motorsport, go to races & race circuits and look at racing cars with bits of metal and tools and hot engines and fuels. Far, far too many applicants who apply to F1 teams wouldnt know a racing car if it ran them over. We look for good graduates but we dont generally take on bookworms who never left the library for 3 years. In F1 you need to be pro-active, energetic, practical and able to communicate with everyone in order to get on. If you happen to be bright and academically good on top of that then great, you should have a bright future.

Most interviews at race teams will be based around practical questions such as showing you 3 metal components and asking you which one is Aluminium, which one is Steel and which one is Titanium. Its incredible how many graduates are clueless with questions like this. Absolutely clueless. Lectures and text books dont teach you this stuff so get out there and learn about it as much as you can.

As you can probably tell, I've got plenty to say on the matter so if you want to know a bit more, come and take a look at my blog at :

http://www.jobinf1.com

or ask me a question via my Twitter account @Work_in_f1

Stick at it as much as you can. Its not the easiest thing to do but these days there are thousands of people working in Formula 1 and opportunities are actually quite common now. Best of luck

[beelsebob]

Absolutely superb reply, I hope many more +1 this.

[Smokes]

Unfortunatly I can't stand living down south in the UK..... I wish F1 tema would move north into yorkshire;)

[kilcoo316]

Don't. Don't even think of trying to lock yourself into any career path at this point because in all honesty, you are way too young to have firmly decided on anything.

This.

Right now, you could pretty much ignore the rest and consider this alone.


Get a general engineering degree, be it mechanical or aero. Avoid those specific motorsports degrees like the plague.

See what parts of the mech/aero course you like, get as much experience of work* as you can and then take it from there.



*I would put more value on someone spending a summer at a lathe or mill actually working than someone who has spent 6x1 week at various engineering offices being shown around CATIA etc on their generic "work experience" program. So don't be afraid to go searching for local precision engineering companies - you'll learn far more and might just get paid a bit too.

[Richard]

Unfortunatly I can't stand living down south in the UK..... I wish F1 tema would move north into yorkshire;)

There's more to motorsport than F1 - we do have Ginetta (Leeds) and Manor (Sheffield).