In 2550 bce, Imhotep became the first person to be recognised as an engineer, when he helped to build the step pyramid at Ṣaqqārah. Ever since, many great and not so great men have taken on the title of engineer, as the industry has seen many grand changes through age and era.
But one of the biggest changes engineering has faced was not a technological advancement, but a social movement. Feminism has been a driving force in political change since 1848, causing sweeping changes in all aspects of society, including employability. Engineering, which was once seen as only a job for men, has taken many strides in the fight for equality. But, still only 14.5% of its employees are women according to the UK’s Engineering Council.
Formula 1 has also seen similar changes. What was once a sport dominated by petrol heads and playboys, now sees 30% of all roles filled by women. For young women looking to break into the sport in engineering, there is one pathway that stands above the rest: Formula Student.
Formula Student
Formula Student (FS) is Europe’s most established educational engineering competition. FS recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, and pits Open wheeled cars, designed and built by University teams from all over the world against each other in a number of competitions, to determine one thing: who’s engineering is the best. Formula student is viewed by many F1 teams as the pinnacle of experience for aspiring engineers, and it can springboard people directly into a motorsport career.
However, in a society that continues to perpetuate gender stereotypes. Many women still feel that there’s no space for them in the world of Formula 1. But some women are looking to buck the trend.
Rosie Hurcombe is a 23 year-old in her final year of Aerospace Engineering, and works in vehicle dynamics for The University of Sheffield’s Formula Student team. She spoke about her experiences within Formula Student, and how far it has already taken her:
“Before I came to uni my dad would put the F1 on at home and I found it quite boring. That was like before I got into engineering, but when I came here, I heard about Formula Student. I thought being able to design and build your own car, as an 18, 19 year-old sounded pretty cool.
“And then I thought, why not watch Formula 1? At that point I was more interested in the engineering behind the cars, and got into karting just for fun.
“Formula Student at every university is different. In Sheffield, you have to apply in first year or foundation year, and it’s quite a long process. But the process isn’t designed to kick too many people out. It’s more to weed out the people who clearly aren’t going to put in the work that’s required.
“There’s an online quiz, you have to write a short paper on how a naturally aspirated engine works. Then there was a group project as well, which for us was designing a race series. But it changes each year, and that’s just to gauge how well you work in a group. But Mainly all you need is an interest and the motivation to get stuck in.
“Within Formula Student, there are various sub teams, and this year I’m in vehicle dynamics. Currently, we’re changing from air-shock suspension to coil-shock suspension, so there’s been a lot of redesigning parts for that. We’re also moving from a steel machined wishbone, and outboard suspension to carbon tubes and titanium inserts. That’s where the upright of the wheel will attach to.
“Next year I’ve got a placement with Red Bull, where I’ll be a junior electrical assistant engineer. I’ll get to design all the brackets for all the electrical components, routing of all the wiring, and making sure that if the electrical systems are by an engine or a gearbox, it’s not going to shake to death. My hope is to one day make a race team within F1, so that I can travel the world with it.
“At the moment, there’s probably about 4 or 5 women on the team but it varies. It would be obviously nice to get more people in but once you’re in the team there’s no bias towards gender. The only thing I’ve personally had was, when I got into Formula Student, someone on my course said to me oh you only got into because you’re a girl, to fill quotas. I’d like to think it was because of merit, but I’ve not experienced anything negative from within the team. And I don’t really notice that kind of thing in general.
“For other women looking to get into motorsports, I would say just take all of the opportunities you can. And definitely try and get involved in Formula Student.
“But If you can’t because it is quite competitive, there’s so many other projects that aren’t directly motorsports related, but are still engineering related, and they are hands-on experience at the end of the day. And even though Formula 1 teams will like Formula Student. If you’ve got similar experience, they’re not going to turn you down just because you haven’t ticked the FS box.”
Women in engineering
19 year-old Mechanical Engineering student and Chassis and Driver Environment team member Grace Blain felt that her gender had even helped her with breaking into motorsports. She said: “Honestly, if anything, my gender helped. I did a day at Mercedes that was organised by a group called STEMettes, which is about getting girls into motorsports. And it’s something you can say on every application. It’s sort of positive discrimination. It annoys me a little bit because I want to get there fair and square but I know it has to happen.
“I decided I wanted to work in motorsport 5 years ago. After doing some research, I realised you have to do Formula Student. That’s what the teams look for on a CV, that’s what you talk about in a job interview, and it’s something I’ve wanted to do since then.
“I’m a first year student and I’m in the chassis and driver environment sub team. I’m working on designing the fire wall, which is the bit that goes between the engine and the driver, I’ve been learning how to do all the CAD, I’ve been involved in making carbon fibre moulds to lay carbon fibre on to. I’ve also been making the front roll hoop, where I was helping out using the band saw to like prop up this piece of metal, and going back and sanding it down once it had been welded, to make it flat.
“I first started watching F1 because my dad was a big Formula 1 fan. I watched Lewis Hamilton win his first championship with my dad in 2008 when I was 4. We used to have picnics in the lounge whilst watching the races, which was really cool. And then when I got social media aged 13, It really revitalised my interest and I got back into it.
During my GCSEs, I started enjoying maths again because it became challenging for me. Physics was also going really well for me. We were studying dynamics, and school started doing careers days. And I thought: Physics, maths. Engineering! And that worked really well with f1. And since then I have worked to get a lot of work experience. Which is a big thing in motorsport, especially in Formula 1, it’s all about who you know not what you know.
My goal is to be a race engineer, I want to be the one on the radio. Going through all of the performance engineering side, because I’m terrible at design, so I want to go into the more analytical side of things, looking at graphs and seeing where you can change.
My advice for women looking to get into the sport is to just go for it, and work your network. I genuinely didn’t think I knew anyone and then I managed to get to three F1 teams. It helped me seeing that there’s more girls on the pit wall now. People like Ruth Buscombe and Bernie Collins are very inspirational, and F1 Academy is pretty good. But even when you can’t see people, Iit doesn’t matter what your gender is, the opportunities are there. You just have to go and find them, I think that’s the thing, it’s just being proactive.”
It’s clear we have come a long way from Imhotep. But, the odds still seem disproportionally stacked against women and girls with dreams of being on the pitwall. However, the opportunities are there. All levels of racing need women that are brave enough to step into roles and pave the way to a brighter, more equal future within motorsports. If you’re interested, but not sure where to start, Formula Student could be the helping hand that you need.
