Year Placement in F1 (Engineering)

[tahadar]

Hi all,

Has anyone here done a year placement with an F1 team within engineering? Would you have done it again, considering the interruption of studies? What sort of work did you get day to day? Your input would be very much appreciated, especially if you worked in the aerodynamics department. I ask because I have the opportunity to do a placement in aerodynamics development and I would like to assess my options before committing.

Many thanks,

Tahadar

[SpookTheHamster]

There should be absolutely no question about whether to do a placement or not. It's probably the most useful thing you'll spend your time doing at university, and far more relevant than anything you'll learn on your course.

Think about it from an employer's point of view. Would you rather take someone with a degree and no experience, or someone with a degree AND a year's experience in the real world?

edit: As for the work - at my placement at least - students are treated exactly the same as a full time member of staff and receive the same workload. That includes the ridiculous workload over winter.

[tahadar]

excellent, that sounds very encouraging. Were you in the aero department by any chance? I guess my post is a bit silly but I was just a bit apprehensive as I am currently on a summer placement at an aerospace company, and some of my friends here are on one-year placements and they are already a bit disappointed that they do see themselves getting 'real', useful work - and its only day 3 of the placement! But then again there is a pretty big difference between aerospace and F1, namely the fact that a product takes about 10 years to develop here vs about 1 - 2 years in F1 so theres a lot more 'real' work to be done.

[Scuderia_Russ]

Do it. Motorsport experience counts for a lot more than classroom work IMO.