Question: what companys have you desighned f1 cars for? what gsce/a levels did you have to follow this career? how did you come into this job?

Colin Dick answered on 17 Jun 2013:

Hi James,

I was lucky enough to design cars for Williams (for 1 year) and now I design for Lotus.

At school I did Maths, Physics, Chemistry, English, French, Computing and PE/sports at GCSE. Then Maths, Physics, Technology and English at A level. Then I went to University to study a course called Aeronautical Engineering (it might sound quite complicated, but it’s really just a mix of physics and Maths that helps you work out how aeroplanes and rockets fly) – I think the best place for this course is Imperial College, Cambridge or Southampton Uni, although I work with people from Glasgow Uni, Queen’s Uni (Belfast), Strathclyde Uni (Glasgow) and Loughborough Uni. If you work hard enough, then you don’t need to go to a fancy university =)

During uni, I applied for a placement with Williams F1 (you can do this after 1 or 2 years of study, and they accept applications through their website which is handy) which meant that I took 1 year out from studying to work on designing the car.

After I graduated from the Aeronautical Engineering course, I moved to Lotus f1.

University is loads of fun and, if you’re prepared to work hard, then I would say it’s the best route getting a job.

Just as a side note, one of my colleagues joined the RAF when he was 18 (he knew he wouldn’t like uni) as an engineer, but he recently moved to Lotus and now he has the fun job of changing the wheels during the pit stops. He’s really lucky, because he gets paid more than me AND he didn’t have to pay university fees. I’m only saying this so you realise that going to university isn’t the only way to get into F1.

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask more questions if this wasn’t very clear =)

Cheers,

Colin.