A visit from Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes F1 Team Chief Race Engineer

The Leeds University Formula Student Team received a visit from Andrew Shovlin, an old engineering graduate who is now Chief Race Engineering for Mercedes F1 Team. Andrew was in Leeds to give a talk on his experiences in Formula 1 and the different areas of engineering which make up a F1 team. 

After the talk, Andrew had a look around the Formula Student workshop which is about to be the home of the F15 chassis, which is being built at the moment. He gave us some pointers on team management but unfortunately wouldn't let us borrow Lewis or Nico to drive!

Team Update:

With the end of semester approaching the team is in the process of ordering and manufacturing parts ready for the full assembly after Christmas. With a new chassis, gear system and dashboard in the workshop already, F15 is beginning to take shape.

A brief overview of Andrew's career:

Andrew graduated from the University of Leeds in 1998, after completing a BEng in Mechanical Engineering, he went on to complete a PhD in Vehicle Dynamics and Control and has had a very impressive F1 career since. After completing his PhD he joined the Research and Development department at BAR Honda in 1998, in a role focused on vehicle modelling and simulation. In December 2000, he was promoted to Assistant Race Engineer for Olivier Panis, with whom he worked for two years. When Jenson Button arrived at BAR Honda in 2003, Dr Shovlin worked alongside Craig Wilson on Button’s car, also in the capacity of Assistant Race Engineer. In 2004, he moved up to Senior Race Engineer, taking on full responsibility for engineering Button’s car. This marked the start of a well-publicised and highly successful partnership with the Formula One driver that culminated in Button winning the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship (WDC) 

After his success in the 2009 WDC and the subsequent takeover of what was by then Brawn GP by Mercedes, Jenson Button jumped ship to McLaren, while Andrew Shovlin remained behind. Mercedes’ involvement coincided with the return of seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher and Andrew Shovlin has been chief engineer at Mercedes ever since. He is responsible for organising the car’s set-up before the race, testing new parts and devising the race strategy; in between races, he spends weeks and weeks at test tracks running simulations to improve the car.

Learn to Win!

Ten members of the Formula Student went down to London last Friday to learn to win. This was an event organised by the Institutions of Mechanical Engineers to help teams that are competing in the Formula Student competition. 

The day started off with a number of presentations by judges and experts in the automotive engineering industry. This provided great insight into what the team needs to do to be competitive in July along with dos and don'ts with regards to testing. There are many key areas that need to be covered once the car is built and this was a perfect chance to grill the judges into what designs they like and what to avoid.

The day was an overall success with lots of ideas and discussions to occur over the next couple of weeks. Several members of the team even managed to find time for a quick night time visit to the London Eye!

We shall have some more updates in the coming weeks with progress of the car being designed and built.

P.S. One of the lecturers from the presentation day found a picture of an old Leeds FSAE car! Hopefully this won't be repeated this year.

Welcome to the Leeds Formula Race Team Blog!

The Formula Student race team here at the University of Leeds have created this blog to showcase our work, provide updates and give a little insight into the goings-on in Formula Student lab.

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