What a revolutionary result for Red Bull Racing at Imola. During this celebratory week, I had the opportunity to speak with a Red Bull Racing engineer encouraging excellence in motorsport. While living in the UK close to the Red Bull factory, it’s been a difficult time as one is not always able to collaborate with colleagues.
Coping as well as could be expected, restrictions are relaxing and employees are returning to the office full time. As a fan of F1 for a number of years, working in the sport appeared as a grand option after graduating from university.
The eager engineer said, “It took some research to find a good role and team for me but the atmosphere is just right. I get to work on complex problems in a fast-paced environment and I am able to see the impact of my work every other weekend.”
The best way to describe the engineer expert role at Red Bull Racing is to make the car go as fast as possible and to help teammates in doing that as well. There’s rigorous analysis of track and wind tunnel data to see how to improve and influence the direction of the aero groups at Red Bull. Finding the trends and useful algorithms helps to transform data and developments for the F1 car.
It’s noted that passion must be in whatever you do as a profession otherwise you may not enjoy it. The engineer at Red Bull expressed, “I feel very lucky to be able to combine my personal and professional interests in this way. The hardest part for me is the flip side of that – it’s difficult to switch off from work! Knowing that we are competing for a world championship makes me want to work constantly to make that happen, so it’s important to manage my time efficiently and give myself the breaks I need.” Timing is everything.
At this current time, women have made a great deal of progress in motorsport. Still there are areas where improvements will gradually come. The encouraging engineer stated, “It is not fast enough and not happening at the highest levels (where there is the most visibility). The most visible aspect is obviously driving, and I believe we are well overdue for an F1 driver who is a woman. The lack of women role models certainly hindered my entry to the sport (the “you can’t be what you can’t see” problem). I’m sure that has been the case for many people looking to F1 so this is part of the reason I hope we can become more diverse in the future.”
This is a complex problem to solve but it takes effort from all places and those at the top should be leading by example. It’s up to the governing bodies to show that they are supportive of underrepresented people becoming a part of a historically white and male dominated area, not because it looks good but because it is the right thing to do and ultimately will make the teams better and more competitive.
When asked what are you most looking forward to in this 2021 season, I was told, “It looks like we have a real battle for the championship on our hands, which I think (as long as I can keep my nerves in check) is going to be fantastic to watch! It’s great to see the cars so close to each other, not just at the front, but in the midfield there are going to be some exciting fights. I also have to mention the hope of fans returning to circuits – it’s not the same with empty grandstands so I’m really looking forward to some normality returning there.”
As a leading engineer expert, the advice for those who would like to work in motorsport is, “It might sound lame, but ‘do your homework’! For me everything is about preparation – the better I can prepare, the better I am able to deal with whatever problem I’m expected to solve. Being visibly ready also inspires confidence in those around you; building trust between teammates helps everyone effectively work together. I hope anyone aspiring to work in motorsport is able to follow that dream! An important lesson I had to learn was not to pigeon-hole myself: there are many jobs that could fit your skillset, and it’s important to be open-minded about new opportunities. Determination and good preparation are great skills to have in motorsport.”
It will be exciting to see what Red Bull Racing brings to the track as the rivalry heats up with Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team during the next race in Portimão, Portugal on 02 May 2021.
Headline Image Credit: Red Bull Racing.