MEng Motorsport Engineering, 2026, USA, Graduate
“Formula Student provided direct application for what I learned on the course, and it operated like an F1 team without being one itself. I was fortunate to lead the team in my final two years of studying, where the membership grew to over 500 students, the largest it had been up to then.”
“I discovered Oxford Brookes through an alumnus of the Motorsport Engineering programme.”
He was working in Indycar racing at the time and got me an internship in his team for the 2019 Indy 500. There, I was convinced Oxford Brookes was the place to go, both by him and many other engineers in the paddock. Furthermore, Oxford Brookes absolutely felt like the right place once I arrived. The collaborative nature surprised me, given how competitive it is to find a job in Formula One. Most of us were teammates working in the Oxford Brookes Racing Formula Student team and just wanted to help each other become better engineers. I love how international the cohorts are, and despite traveling so far from home, I was surrounded by others who had done the same to pursue their dreams.
“I joined Oxford Brookes Racing as soon as I could in my first year.”
Professional engineers I had spoken to advocated heavily for joining Formula Student, and there are many good reasons for that; an opportunity to try each of the many disciplines in motorsport engineering. It provided direct application for what I learned on the course, and it operated like an F1 team without being one itself. I was fortunate to lead the team in my final two years of studying, where the membership grew to over 500 students, the largest it had been up to then.
“There are plenty of opportunities to make connections with those working in industry.”
In the Formula Student team, we hosted alumni reviews twice per year, where alumni working in professional motorsport visited, to provide direct feedback to students’ design work. Our team would also have weekly talks from alumni, while the University hosted more senior industry professionals every two weeks in their Industrial Lecture Series.
“I’m now working as a structural engineer at Williams F1 Team.”
My primary responsibility is to make sure components are as light as possible without failing on track, making the racecar both fast and reliable. Oxford Brookes helped to prepare me for this through the experience in the Formula Student team, where I learned to be comfortable in the face of unsolved problems. Leading a team of volunteers leaves nowhere to hide, as the members must be motivated purely by the desire for the team’s success and the work behind achieving a unified goal. A truly invaluable experience as I aspire to one day become a leader in Formula One.