Infiniti Engineering Academy winner lands F1 apprenticeship
European leg of apprenticeship programme sees French entrant win job in UK engineering
The European winner of the latest Infiniti Engineering Academy was crowned yesterday, winning a job at the Renault F1 team.
Damian Turlay of France took the prize of moving to the UK for a 12-month apprenticeship shared between the Infiniti Technical Centre in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, and Renault Sport F1’s base in Enstone, Oxfordshire.
Car manufacturer Infiniti has a technical partnership with the Renault F1 team, which sees the companies share ideas and engineers to advance the pair’s products. The Engineering Academy is an extension of this partnership, which has proved an invaluable asset in bringing new talent to the business.
The competition takes place in seven regions around the world and has already had tangible results. Last year’s Asia and Oceania region winner, Xuezi Li of China, came up with an idea to improve downforce on the F1 car’s rear wing – it was tested in practice and is now part of the team’s high-downforce setup.
The European leg of this year’s event took place at Renault’s Enstone factory, with competitors showing their competence in science, mathematics, teamwork and ability to work under pressure.
A variety of competitions across two days resulted in the teams analysing data to make informed changes to a small electric dragster, before going head-to-head in a best-of-five drag race.
Richard Wakefield, manager of Infiniti’s project management department, Paul Rennie, Renault Sport F1 team engineer, and Tommaso Volpe, director of Infiniti motorsport, then deliberated on the competitors’ performances to decide the winner.
Bob Bell, chief technical officer at Renault Sport F1, said of the Academy graduates: “It takes a certain type of engineer to really flourish in Formula One, and the quality, in-depth selection process employed by the Infiniti Engineering Academy ensures that we get the right people for the job, right away.
“Time is the most precious commodity in Formula One, so to know what these engineering undergraduates have been through before they get to us is very reassuring.”
