Telford engineer's Formula 1 win

The world's most hi-tech cars are staying on track for a thrilling Formula 1 season thanks to the work of a Shropshire engineer.

Brian Tinson, who runs Tinson Training in Telford, scooped a contract with tyre fitter Pirelli, giving him the exclusive right to train Pirelli tyre fitters to fix problems relating to the state-of-the-art machines, which race round circuits at speeds approaching 200mph.

He trained the world-class engineers to fix any problems with the equipment they use to fit the tyres on the wheels ahead of every race of the season.

Mr Tinson, who launched his company in Donnington in 2008 and now holds contracts with companies including GKN, E-On, BAE Systems and Debenhams, said the Pirelli engineers underwent bespoke electrical engineering training just hours before flying out to the Australian Grand Prix last month.

The 56-year-old, who personally trained the top-class engineers in Didcot, said: "I won the contract to supply the Pirelli team with the bespoke training they needed to ensure they could look after the tyres ahead of and during this season's races.

"With F1 the show has to go on and no mistakes can be made, especially at the crucial times when the Pirelli engineers are fitting the tyres to the wheels in advance of the races. It is often a tight deadline to get every single tyre fitted before the next race.

"The technicians need to keep all of their equipment operational to keep the cars on the track but if any equipment failures do happen then they need the expert knowledge to rectify the situation immediately and it is that training I was privileged enough to provide."

Mr Tinson, a qualified electrical engineer and a qualified lecturer in further education, said he was one of the only companies in the UK who could provide bespoke training specific to the industry and the company involved.

His business now provides training to international companies all over the UK and provides training courses for small groups of up to around 15 people and also one-to-one courses.

He added: "It was a privilege to train the Pirelli team and exciting to see the wheels fitted so smoothly during the first four races knowing I had trained the men who put those tyres on. The tyres play such a crucial part in every race, as F1 fans saw in Bahrain."