Formula 1 blog - Linksheaven

“Knockout” quals to knockout fair competition?

Love or hate the new qualification system it has already come under fire for some loopholes and aggrevating scenarios, but a new one seems to have gone on undetected

Continue Reading 4 comments February 24th, 2006

Jobs in Formula 1

June 2008 - An update to this post is available

From the forums:

Roy asks:

I tend to get a lot of emails from young people looking for answers to “I want to work in F1!!!!”. What jobs do you think will be in demand in F1 (and motorsport in general) in the next decade?

(yes I know “lawyer” )

Welt replied:

My whole career I get asked this question, almost every event I have every been working at, but lucky for people still out there looking, most people don’t seem to take my advice to heart.

I have found, that people go to a motorsports event, they take a tour of the paddock, or they start watching F1 on TV, or get into it in fantasy leagues or at the pub, and all of a sudden out of nothingness, it jumps up and bites them, that they think they want to be a part of the show, most people that have any good sense come to understand quite quickly that they don’t have the ability or the background to become the next Michael Schumacher or Fernando Alonso, so they jump on the thought of becoming a crew member or someone else along the line. As someone who has been around the sport my entire professional life, I more than most understand and fully appreciate that thought, but people too often think that because it’s just behind the scenes, that one can have the dream today, and live it tomorrow afternoon, when that could not be farther from the truth.

If anyone reading this is serious about getting into F1 or any top series as crew or anything more, please know that it’s a very serious commitment, and in many job descriptions, it takes just as much dedication, training and ability to get to that level as an engineer or technical staff member, as it does as a driver. And also, that while it can be one of the most rewarding jobs and lifestyles around, the farther you go up the ladder, the more you must learn to live the job, and work to stay at the top of your own game, it’s not a career path that you can work 9 - 5 and come home and do your own thing, many team employees will work 60 - even 90 hours per week most of the year around, some will exceed even that, and most of the time outside of that that your not sleeping, your thinking about what you can do and what the people around you can do to improve the performance of what your working on. It’s a life, not a job.

As far as what jobs are most in demand, that is a little bit of a tough question to answer. In F1 this is most true, but it is also true in most major motorsports formulas, that it isn’t necessarily the type of job, but the kind of person, and in many cases that person’s experience and along with thier attitude. Whether your looking to be the guy that sweeps up the shop, or the woman that designs the next winning Formula One car, you need to strive to be the best at what your doing, push yourself to do more than you think you can, and learn to enjoy that aspect of your job. I would also urge youngsters and older folks alike who are looking to move into the industry, that before you do anything, find an area that you love, not just one you can deal with, but you really do have to have that passion, because believe me, it will show through in your work, and it’s going to be a critical thing for you to be able to handle those 90 hour weeks when the pressure comes. If your the least bit unhappy with your job or situation, it won’t take long in that kind of atmosphere for it to start showing and in F1 or any top level motorsport, you won’t get too many chances to prove you can handle it.

I bring these points up, because they really are needed to succeed, and they are needed to seperate yourself from the crowd, teams like Mclaren, Ferrari, and most major teams in major series across the world, they are swarmed with thousands upon thousands of requests to work for the team each year, several hundred of them from people with fantastic backgrounds, and several hundred more from people willing to pay thier own way and work for free, just to have the experience of it all. So prepare yourself to go out and be the best.

I also hear from people that want to work in F1, or Champ Car, or WRC, or wherever, and most of them have the mindset, that they have to be there and that is all they will settle for and they all think they should start at thier favorite team and live happily ever after. If any of you have that mindset, you honestly have already failed. It’s great to have a dream to work for Mclaren or Audi Le Mans, or what have you, but it’s critical to be as unbiased as you can be, you really need to have the mind set to work for the team you hate the most and if need be in a series you have never followed. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t desire to still work for your favorite team, or that you should be content to work at your least favorite team forever, but you need to be able to. Motorsports is a series of hidden doors, and saying no to one team or one opportunity doesn’t necessarily mean you just closed that one door, you may have close 20 doors, because one thing I have learned, is that you never know what one thing may lead to, and being a positive people pleasing person can take you a long way, even a long way farther than a guy with the same skills as you who isn’t so pleasant.

If your young, still in school or old but looking for something new and willing to put the time in, honestly, the ticket to follow is in the area of elite electronics, aerodynamics, mechanical and electrical engineering, computer software specialists, fluid dynamicists, computational studies, automotive design, aerospace engineering, and really any elite studies that can be directed at the improvement of speed and reliablity of an automobile. That isn’t to say that there is not always a huge need for great mechanics, assemblers, machinists, welders, autoclave specialists and many other jobs along those lines, but the higher technology positions take a lot more to get to that level just from the education needed, they prove to a team that you can go some distance on your own already, and that tends to thin down the hurd of people that your dealing with to get a job, it also opens up a lot more positions for you down the racing ladder in order to get some experience in some series somewhere before you make the try for F1 or something really major, so there are just more chances for you, and many of those fields are not nearly as black and white yet, meaning there is huge possibility for people to come in and find a theory on something and be the next great specialist in that field, and that alone can give a great mind a instant ticket to any racing series they wish to work in.

Sorry to take the long way around the question Roy, but I hope some of you who read this can if nothing else better prepare yourself to approach a career in motorsports, and not only that but help to help yourself make the best decision for you futures. Thanks. Cheers.

156 comments February 19th, 2006