On Friday 20th March, students across the school were treated to an inspiring visit from Sarah, a graduate engineer at the McLaren Mastercard Formula One Team. She spent the day with us across a range of sessions and left students with a genuine sense of what it takes to build a career at the pinnacle of motorsport.
Year 9 joined Sarah in assembly, where she spoke about the variety of roles within an F1 team, from aerodynamics and data science to logistics, sustainability and her own route in through McLaren’s engineering graduate programme. The message was clear: curiosity, a willingness to learn, and keep developing your skills matter.
Year 10 Design & Technology and Engineering students went further, exploring the real demands of working in Formula 1: the relentless calendar, the pressure of marginal gains, and the extraordinary teamwork behind every race weekend. Sarah spoke honestly about the challenges, and equally about the pride that comes with contributing to a car competing at world level.
Year 12 students had a session of a different kind entirely: a deep dive into telemetry data, exploring how the mathematics behind real F1 performance data is analysed and applied. It was a vivid illustration of how the maths they study in the classroom is put to work at speed.
Sarah’s 4 Key Tips to stand out in an application:
- Get involved — take every opportunity that comes your way, inside school and beyond. Volunteer or attend events that relate to your desired sector.
- Create something — employers want to see that you make things, solve problems, and take initiative. Model what it is your role entails. This can be marketing strategies or CAD models.
- Be curious — ask questions, explore ideas, and never stop wanting to know how things work.
- Be your best — bring your full effort to everything you do. Consistent commitment is what sets people apart. Employers want to see you have a passion for something and persevere with it.
We are grateful to Sarah and to McLaren Racing for a day that reminded our students just how far ambition and the right preparation can take them.