Young people getting a job in formula 1

[ashf1mclaren]

hi my names ash, i am 16 & currently a sixth form student. i obtained good g.c.s.e results and am now at the start of my A-level courses, from the age of 3 i have always said i wanted to design formula 1 cars in the same way as Adrian Newey. i have researched ways of getting a job in formula 1 and am currently entering the f1 in schools competition. i am interested to find out more if anyone out there has any information or is in a job in f1 i would greatly appreciate your advice, thank you to all who post

[flynfrog]

Odds are not until you are in college. Then it will be an unpaid internship for a year. Then you may get a chance at a full time hire. I know this is the case with most indy teams. If I were you id ask around any local race teams see if they need a pit boy. You can do crap jobs in the pits but learn alot while you do it. I started working crews when I was 12 I think I know we had to lie to get me in the pits. At 16 you can get in with maybe a wavier. Just like the drivers you dont start in F1

[xxChrisxx]

The key is to figure out what part you enjoy, being so young you really won't be able to do this for a few years yet.

Some F1 teams acutally take on short term internships, Williams do a taster week and a paid year internship iirc (they will be mega-competitive though). The mid/back of the field teams are more likely to do something similar to this. You can ask, and the worst they can say is no. I'd keep being persistent, gaining experience then reapplying the next year if you don't get on.

My suggestion would be similar to flynfrogs, find a race team that will have you as a pit lane boy on race weekends. You'd be best going for something like a Clio cup team or similar. It'll not only give you an insight as to what it's like to be in the pit lane, but shows you are motivated and want to gain experience.


Do you have any idea about what area you want to work in? Designing the car, bulding the car, mechanic? They all require different skills that you will have to weigh up if you have a shot or not.

[ashf1mclaren]

Hi chris & flyinfrog thanks for you very helpful information, in regards to what I want to be doing in formula 1 is designing cars, in the way adrian newey does, Colin chapman did....I am interested in aerodynamics and have been from a very early age, I have grown up in a motorsport enthusiast family, and found myself from an early age on a nintendo 64 play the f1 game of that year, I found a liking in setting the car up and quickly relised this made it faster, I those day the set up on the game was for some overcomplicated but I liked it.......I am a huge fan of newey & chapman's approach to design, I very much like the fact newey draws all he creates, some call him the last of the dinosaur's, but I think there is still something in sketching your ideas out that should never be lost. I also have some say a ability to tell you facts about any car I see, it's almost like library, as a small child I never made small simple thing but huge complex designs, also things like meccarno ect I could build cars, planes, trains with out instructions from scratch.
So I hope this gives you a slight insight into my mind set, by the way I live near a track called oulton park