Career in Motorsport with Economics as Background?

[Bill_Kar]

OK, so it's going to be a medium-long post, so sorry for that.
I'm 21 years old, in October I'm entering my last year at University. I study Economics.
And that's exactly the main concern for this post.
I'm a big fan of motorsport, not just F1, but of other categories as well, including bikes. My question is how can I reach this world with an economic background, career-wise? What should be my first steps towards that? There are a lot of tips on the internet but they're (almost) exclusively for engineers. I've seen that F1 teams ,for example, are asking for employees now and then, but I haven't come across an internship, or something affordable in terms of experience (to which I must say I have some, but completely unrelated to what they seek) and simultaneously related to my background or something similar.
I realise of course that I should reach for the minority, that small percentage of jobs unrelated to Engineering, so by definition it should be harder, but it seems to me that is almost non-existent.
Recently, though, I found out about a students' racing team based in my city, they participate in a league apparently called Formula Student. As I dug into for more info, out of 70 students, 5 or maybe 10 are non-engineering jobs. This Monday they roll-out their car, I'll be there to ask about vacancies or what skills are required and I hope it is something I can pull off.
Does it happen you know anything about this?Maybe similar low-end categories? Perhaps pursuit a Master that at least closes the gap between the two fields? Or is it entirely on soft skills?
I'll be glad for any advice/answer

[63l8qrrfy6]

Motorsport roles in your field are extremely rare, however you might be able to pursue an apprenticeship and work as a technician with good chances of being offered the opportunity to study further and qualify as an engineer.

[turbof1]

OK, so it's going to be a medium-long post, so sorry for that.
I'm 21 years old, in October I'm entering my last year at University. I study Economics.
And that's exactly the main concern for this post.
I'm a big fan of motorsport, not just F1, but of other categories as well, including bikes. My question is how can I reach this world with an economic background, career-wise? What should be my first steps towards that? There are a lot of tips on the internet but they're (almost) exclusively for engineers. I've seen that F1 teams ,for example, are asking for employees now and then, but I haven't come across an internship, or something affordable in terms of experience (to which I must say I have some, but completely unrelated to what they seek) and simultaneously related to my background or something similar.
I realise of course that I should reach for the minority, that small percentage of jobs unrelated to Engineering, so by definition it should be harder, but it seems to me that is almost non-existent.
Recently, though, I found out about a students' racing team based in my city, they participate in a league apparently called Formula Student. As I dug into for more info, out of 70 students, 5 or maybe 10 are non-engineering jobs. This Monday they roll-out their car, I'll be there to ask about vacancies or what skills are required and I hope it is something I can pull off.
Does it happen you know anything about this?Maybe similar low-end categories? Perhaps pursuit a Master that at least closes the gap between the two fields? Or is it entirely on soft skills?
I'll be glad for any advice/answer

Ah, a fellow academic in economics!

Well, pursueing a career in motorsport is I think possible if it plays in the core strengths of your competences built by your educational background. So you are not going to get involved in the engineer department, but you might land something in the marketing department or the accountancy department of a team.

Just realise that even if some jobs are none-engineering, they might still require a solid, preferably academic background in engineering for management positions. Even jobs like HR might not immediately be in reach as they require you have a lot of contacts in motorsport before landing such a job at a team.

You should focus on networking. Create contacts, that'll be key. Building a large network of people involved in motorsport will raise your value for such a team immediately.

[NL_Fer]

Strategy Calculator?

[Bill_Kar]

Ah, a fellow academic in economics!

Well, pursueing a career in motorsport is I think possible if it plays in the core strengths of your competences built by your educational background. So you are not going to get involved in the engineer department, but you might land something in the marketing department or the accountancy department of a team.

Just realise that even if some jobs are none-engineering, they might still require a solid, preferably academic background in engineering for management positions. Even jobs like HR might not immediately be in reach as they require you have a lot of contacts in motorsport before landing such a job at a team.

You should focus on networking. Create contacts, that'll be key. Building a large network of people involved in motorsport will raise your value for such a team immediately.

And I thought I was the only one!

I figured that networking is really valuable, that's why I'm so keen for the Formula Student roll out.
Apart from that, what else do you think it could help with networking?As a country, we don't have many representatives in motorsport world.

That's particularly interesting, what you say about management positions. I wonder if extensive & serious studying on (F1 mostly) engineering would at least be a considerable plus. My knowledge is limited of course, but I'm a dedicated "researcher" on engineering topics.

Strategy Calculator?

Yes, I think that strategy matters can be operated by non-engineers as well. Our faculty offers a number of game theory subjects, strategic thinking etc.
Data analyst comes to mind as well, who, just like strategist, is really close with the team's operations. I even think that they are who feed race engineers with data, directly.
I'm not completely sure whether Business Analytics programme qualifies you for data analyst or not. In its core, it's basically the same principles.



There is another option, we learned that from Toto. Buy shares of a racing Team and let the board appoint you Executive Director.

[Greg Locock]

Given that racing cars run on money, not gasoline as is often supposed, I'd have thought teams would need quite a lot of Finance people.

[NL_Fer]

Yeah thats another way, Toto Wolf, Zak Brown, Christian Horner were all failed racing drivers.

[AJI]

Given that racing cars run on money, not gasoline as is often supposed, I'd have thought teams would need quite a lot of Finance people.

Indeed. One could even say that the most important position in an F1 team (or any top-tier motor sport class for that matter) is that of the CFO...

[roon]

Given that racing cars run on money, not gasoline as is often supposed, I'd have thought teams would need quite a lot of Finance people.

100k$/hr would be a more impressive metric than 100kg/hr, wouldn't it?