5 reasons why F1’s new rules are good news for job seekers

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2014 is the start of a new era in Formula 1 and the new look sport has already grabbed the headlines as teams struggle to get to grips with new technology and sport cars with ugly looking noses. F1 is set for a big change but this might also present a great opportunity for people wanting to get into the sport. Here are 5 ways I believe you can make the most of F1’s new rules and use this time of change to start your career in the sport :

1) Take advantage of diversifying technical challenges

The new engines in F1 are very complex but are a really great vision of the future of everyday road car technology. To succeed in 2014 F1 teams are going to need staff with a wider and more diverse set of skills than ever before. Electronics, IT, chemistry and materials are all set to make a greater contribution to performance in 2014 and mean opportunities for you to get involved.

2) Create innovative marketing opportunities

The cost of the new technologies has meant the budgets of even the biggest teams have been stretched further than ever before. Teams are looking for ever more inventive ways to market themselves and sell F1 to potential sponsors and partners. The new eco-friendly engines and hybrid technologies have opened up new markets and allow teams to promote a whole new energy conscious image for Formula 1. Teams will be on the lookout for marketing talent with fresh ideas and forward looking ways to generate income.

3) Take advantage of increased engine budget spend

While budgets at the teams themselves might be tight, the investment by the 3 (soon to be 4) engine manufacturers is set to be enormous as they battle for supremacy. As always, more money means more jobs and already these manufacturers are employing a huge amount more people than they were during the engine freeze years of the V8.

4) Get ready to attract new manufacturers

The new for 2014 Formula 1 is yet to get to its first race but already the new rules have created a large fan and media interest. The energy efficient technology and road car relevance are much more attractive to automotive companies than the old V8 rules. Behind the scenes there are many rumours that another manufacturer is ready to get involved, be that Audi, Toyota or BMW. Times have been tough but this might be the start of another expansion in Formula 1 and there will being many more jobs opportunities to go with it.

5) Get ready for more races and more testing

The F1 calendar was traditionally only made up of 16 races but that number has been steadily increasing over the past few seasons and is only likely to get bigger still as F1 expands into new markets such as Russia and the United States. There are 19 races in 2014 but this could be as many as 21 in 2015 with Mexico and New Jersey already making agreements with Bernie Ecclestone. In season testing also returns in 2014 and so teams will need more and more trackside capable personnel to cover all these events.

Get Involved

There have been lots of stories suggesting that F1 is struggling and that teams are at risk but motorsport has never been a safe and easy industry. Competition always has it losers but this is what makes F1 so challenging and compelling. I firmly believe that the new rules will come to be viewed as a very forward thinking concept over the coming years and that the rule makers have ensured an upcoming period of prosperity for Formula 1 and the people who work in it. If you want to be part of those good times, now might be the perfect time to get involved.

Keep in touch

I’ve written very little on this blog over the past few months due to the very high workload we’ve had getting the new car ready.

I still have a lot I want to write about and feel very strongly that I can give useful and helpful advice to aspiring F1 people. A few ‘copycat’ websites have begun to appear but to my knowledge this is still the only site written by someone who actually works in F1. If you truly want to work in F1 then I want to keep this site as the number one place to turn to.

You can keep up to date with future posts by following this blog at the top of the page and get my latest advice as soon as it is published.

I also try to keep involved via Twitter through my @Work_in_F1 account.

Best of luck and hope to see you on the grid one day!

14 Comments

  1. Designing a Formula 1 car is my dream that I am working towards making a reality. I am addicted to speed, love going fast (can’t go fast enough), and of course would love to be a Formula 1 driver (who wouldn’t!!!). I am currently working towards my Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and I am apart of my universities FSAE Race car team.
    Unfortunately I was born and raised in Canada, where I am also attending school, and the Formula 1 world is across the ocean. After looking at a number of the teams websites, it seems to me that a huge advantage to actually acquiring a job in Formula 1 is living overseas and getting summer employments, training, etc. with the teams and affiliated companies. This is not possible due to the huge amount of money required to move overseas. Money that I do not have. Is this true and if not do you have maybe any helpful tips (could be a good blog post)?

    Kyle
    February 21, 2014 at 4:40 am

    1. Hi Kyle

      Thanks for the comments

      Sounds like you are studying and getting involved in all the right things. I can’t deny however that it’s more difficult to get into F1 if you live outside of Europe or the UK. You are from an English speaking country however and that counts for quite a bit. There are quite a few Canadian, American and Australian engineers working in F1 right now so it can be done.

      Best things I can advise are to consider post grad study in the UK, at one of the many Motorsport courses like cranfield or oxford Brookes. This can lead to work placements & the like without the high living expenses. One thing that f1 teams really like is people who can demonstrate that they have gone the extra mile and show that they are really dedicated. If you come over here from Canada then that will show through strongly and you’ll be looked at closely by the teams.

      Other option is work in racing in Csnada or the US. There is a big racing scene in the US in particular and once you are a ‘Motorsport person’ you’ll find it much easier to make contact and be considered by f1 teams and other European racing companies. I actually spent 4 years working in the US in several race series before I worked in F1. Strange for an Englishman to do it that way but those were just the opportunities I got.

      Hope that helps?! Best of luck.

      work_in_f1
      February 22, 2014 at 8:17 pm

  2. Hello,
    first of all, thank you for this blog, it is a great source for information!
    I am currently studying towards a master’s degree in aeronautics at a german university and I am looking for a way to get into motorsport in the future with the ultimate goal of working in F1.
    Can you say anything about teams’ opinion about graduates from non-UK universities?
    And are there many aero engineers who have a Phd? Since Aerodynamics is such a complex field, I am currently looking at that possibility as well.

    Chris
    February 17, 2014 at 5:32 pm

    1. Hi Chris

      Thanks for the kind comments , I appreciate it. Great to get feed back that people actually read what I am writing up here!

      The majority of workers in F1 are English and got their degrees at a UK university. There are however lots if people with foreign education. Teams want the best people they can get. If team A limits itself to recruiting only from the UK them team B can potentially get ahead by recruiting better people from overseas and it will do so if it thinks it can gain an advantage. There is no hard and fast rule, each individual is looked at on their own merit I would say. If you do have a non UK degree however you might need to include more info in your application about the uni which you attend and the course which you have done as it’s less likely that the team or individual reading it would be familiar with it. Armed with the right info, the team can make the best recruitment decision. Does that make sense ?

      Aero is the most academically demanding area in F1 I would say and there is certainly a place for people who have studied to PhD level in a relevant area. Most people in F1 do not have PhD’s. It does not make you better than someone else unless it is part of a well rounded application. If a candidate who has a good degree but also has relevant experience and demonstrable knowledge of racing and can demonstrate good work ethic etc goes up against a PhD candidate who does not have those things then the degree candidate will probably ‘win’. A PhD is not a ticket to F1 and contrary to opinion F1 is not a very academic environment, it is largely based on inventiveness and a scatter gun approach of ideas rather than deep analysis.

      Hope that helps ?!

      work_in_f1
      February 19, 2014 at 9:33 pm

  3. Does age matter when applying for F1 jobs? Does F1 prefer older mature 35+ with more skills over a young 22 year old with Distinction average Bachelor degree?

    The people you see at the back of the garage on those laptops, are they software engineers doing live analysis for race strategy?

    simon
    February 10, 2014 at 10:57 am

    1. Age doesn’t matter too much but generally teams prefer short periods of specific Motorsport experience rather than years of general experience. The skills and more importantly work ethic of F1 and racing is quite specific.

      People at back of garage are a mixture of data engineers, control engineers , engine engineers and gearbox engineers. The are basically watching for something going wrong with the car or not behaving as they should. Not likely to be software engineers and most strategy is done on pit wall or back at base

      work_in_f1
      February 10, 2014 at 10:32 pm

  4. I have 30+ years in the software industry and nowadays I mostly help other developers become better by sitting next to them or holding courses in modern methods.

    I have approached most of the teams but failed to at least get a dialogue on how I could help them improve their programming. Not that I know much about their current state other than what I’ve learned from a former employee.

    Seems that you work under pressure which risks you being slower, a metaphor would be attacking corners too hard and get a wide exit.

    I could really do with a contact that would be interested in a dialogue, especially this season with a Swedish driver on the grid!

    Kind regards,
    Per

    Per Lundholm
    February 9, 2014 at 10:49 am

    1. Hi Per

      It’s difficult to know how to help. I decided when I started this blog that it would be entirely personal and I wouldn’t use it to give people access to my team or any other .

      I can’t therefore give you any contacts as you ask for.

      All I can say is that programming in f1 is very fast turnover which requires a great deal of flexibility.

      work_in_f1
      February 10, 2014 at 10:27 pm

      1. Flexibility is what we call agility in software industry and that is the core of what I teach. Most developers end up in a mess when trying to meet quickly changing requirements. That’s what I had in mind when I used the metaphor of a wide exit.

        Well, I’ll keep trying until I find way in. If you know any software conference where chances are good to meet the right people, that would be a great tip.

        Per Lundholm
        February 11, 2014 at 6:44 am

  5. Hello!
    First of all, thank you for this website. It has every info I need to know about ways to reach F1.

    I would like to ask you: Do you think that a path to F1 through a car manufacturer is the best way for a person who live in a city with absolutely zero background in motorsport?
    I’m graduating in mec. engineering, and the only way i have to live something about racing is with my team of “Baja SAE” from University… I live in Brazil and all the motorsport spots in my country are far from my city. But not all the car manufacturers are inside this list, fortunately. It’s a doubt I have…because I see the factories of Renault and Honda like a chance to start climbing the ladder to F1.

    Thank you for your time!!

    Talisson Figueiredo
    February 9, 2014 at 4:05 am

    1. Hi

      I started at a road car manufacturer but only stayed a very short while. It’s a different and much slower industry than racing and is often not looked upon favourably.

      I don’t know where you live but if you wanted to get into racing you probably need to consider travelling and moving to where you can get the necessary experience

      work_in_f1
      February 10, 2014 at 10:23 pm

  6. Congratulations on your blog.

    I’m an Aerospace Engineering student in my last year working in my Senior Thesis on Computational Fluid Dynamics. I am trying to spend most of my free time broaden my knowledge on subjects somehow related to motorsport, like data acquisition and data analysis, or vehicle aero simulation, whether external or internal aerodynamics (learning how to properly simulate and optimize turbochargers might be a subject I’ll try to devote some time into).
    Furthermore, I’ve got a friends with go-karts (amateur only) and a road car prepared for racing (amateur also) with whom I spend time learning about mechanics and having fun racing. I’ll try to volunteer for a Pro team if I get the chance, unfortunately I don’t have many event near where I live.

    In short, I’m afraid I am spending too much time into doing too many things. Should I focus on one specific subject and excel in it? Also, I enjoy doing things which in a racing teams are done by technicians or mechanics; so, is there a “line” which defines which jobs are for engineers and which are for mechanics? Or junior engineers do start as, let’s say technicians, building their way up into senior engineers.

    Thanks in advance.

    Pablo
    February 8, 2014 at 7:26 pm

    1. I wouldn’t try to do too much. Simulating and optimising turbo’s is not something you can do properly in your bedroom at home so best not to try. Better off understanding fundamentals of how they work and the physics behind them.

      Normally now engineers have degrees and it’s difficult for mechanics / technicians to learn the necessary fundamentals to be a senior engineer despite their very valuable experience.

      work_in_f1
      February 10, 2014 at 10:35 pm

  7. As a person who is dedicated to formula 1 and is will to be involved in Furture carrers I appreciate what you’re giving us, its a great pleasure to be part of it. Although I still have a lot of questions

    Goodman
    February 8, 2014 at 6:12 pm

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