Ask an F1 Engineer Anything ... Part 2

[AnonymousF1_2025]

I started a thread five years ago*, enjoyed answering questions and giving back to the community and always meant to keep it up but, well... work's been busy!

So time for a Part 2.

Long-term forum member and long-term engineer working in F1. I've learned a lot from PH over the years, from finance to building regs, so thought it time I put something back in to the community (by way of a creatively chosen anonymous username...).

Feel free to ask any questions about F1 and I'll do my best to answer from the perspective of someone working in it. Anything IP sensitive will get ignored

*I can't post a link to the previous thread as had to start a new account but if you search for Ask an F1 Engineer anything you'll find it (perhaps someone could link it in a reply please?).

[jeremyc]

Original thread

[Mezzanine]

F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport, but is there another area of motorsport you have felt tempted to move into?

Similarly is there any other industry/field that interests you or you could apply your skills to if F1 ceased to exist?

also

Who was your favourite driver/team before you entered F1 as a career?

(interesting thread too…thank you)

[audi321]

Are you still an F1 engineer today? Or was this some time ago?

[AnonymousF1_2025]

Mezzanine said:

F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport, but is there another area of motorsport you have felt tempted to move into?

Similarly is there any other industry/field that interests you or you could apply your skills to if F1 ceased to exist?

also

Who was your favourite driver/team before you entered F1 as a career?

(interesting thread too thank you)

You're welcome! WEC/hypercars look like fun, and the Paris-Dakar safari stuff too.

Skills are engineering, design, performance and aerodynamics so hopefully someone else would have me!

I don't remember having a favourite driver/team, nor a particular aspiration to work for one, as a youngster - I've always considered it a technical challenge with the benefits of a sporting spectacle bolted on the side

[AnonymousF1_2025]

audi321 said:

Are you still an F1 engineer today? Or was this some time ago?

Yes, very much so - coming up to 25 years in.

[Composite Guru]

Mezzanine said:

F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport, but is there another area of motorsport you have felt tempted to move into?

Similarly is there any other industry/field that interests you or you could apply your skills to if F1 ceased to exist?

also

Who was your favourite driver/team before you entered F1 as a career?

(interesting thread too thank you)

I worked in F1 for 25 years up to 2 years ago. I hated going to work because teams are not like they used to be anymore. Too many people in the teams now. 80% of people you don t know what they actually do. It had just lost the old school team spirit it once had.
The seasons are way too long now, it s relentless and you are dictated on when you take 70% of your holidays now

I work in aerospace now and am loving the slower environment and for my life back.
I also go home relaxed rather than stressed out. Family life is so much better.

Just to show you it’s not all a bed of roses.

[uktrailmonster]

Composite Guru said:

I worked in F1 for 25 years up to 2 years ago. I hated going to work because teams are not like they used to be anymore. Too many people in the teams now. 80% of people you don t know what they actually do. It had just lost the old school team spirit it once had.
The seasons are way too long now, it s relentless and you are dictated on when you take 70% of your holidays now

I work in aerospace now and am loving the slower environment and for my life back.
I also go home relaxed rather than stressed out. Family life is so much better.

Just to show you it s not all a bed of roses.

Yeah, I bailed out of F1 around 15 years ago because winter testing was getting in the way of my ski season and racing was getting in the way of my mountain biking!

I do miss it sometimes now I’ve forgotten what it was like. Teams appear to have roughly twice as many people today than when I left the sport. My eldest teenage daughter has recently started following F1 so now I watch it on TV. I still see a lot of familiar faces in the paddock, but they all look ancient!

[pteron]

Have you ever been chosen to represent the constructor team on the podium? (Assuming your team has ever been on the podium of course!)

[Mabozza]

do you know Elvis and have you appeared on WD?

[RATATTAK]

Where can I find out about the spec for next year's F1 cars ?

[marine boy]

AnonymousF1_2025 said:

Yes, very much so - coming up to 25 years in.

Good going OP, thanks for restarting this thread as I was thinking about doing it

Also coming up to 25yrs in too, doing design, design leadership, design mentoring, have worked on all areas of a car (except inside an ICE) and in/with all design/engineering groups

Still enjoying it as I'm good at making up my own fun, love being thrown out of my comfort zone neck deep into creating something new and don't have a problem putting in the necessary graft so keep being offered interesting projects

Never intended to stay in F1 for so long, had my sights set on 5yrs max, box ticked, onto the next motorsport category

Have done many different categories but F1 kind of put doing new ones on hold for too many years so recently got this back on track as F1 was starting to lose it's buzz

Needed something different but as extreme as F1, looked around, decided unlimited trophy trucks for Baja 500/1000 racing would be pretty hard-core so now doing this too, in my spare time, both design and as occasional race crew

[heebeegeetee]

Hi

Re the latest skid block think with McLaren - why aren't the skid blocks weighed, instead of measured?

[AnonymousF1_2025]

pteron said:

Have you ever been chosen to represent the constructor team on the podium? (Assuming your team has ever been on the podium of course!)

I have

[AnonymousF1_2025]

Mabozza said:

do you know Elvis and have you appeared on WD?

I don't and have not.

[Mezzanine]

Composite Guru said:

I worked in F1 for 25 years up to 2 years ago. I hated going to work because teams are not like they used to be anymore. Too many people in the teams now. 80% of people you don t know what they actually do. It had just lost the old school team spirit it once had.
The seasons are way too long now, it s relentless and you are dictated on when you take 70% of your holidays now

I work in aerospace now and am loving the slower environment and for my life back.
I also go home relaxed rather than stressed out. Family life is so much better.

Just to show you it s not all a bed of roses.

I live relatively local to Milton Keynes and some of my work has involved meeting several people who are/have been involved working within F1 so I am fully aware there is certainly a negative side to that world.

However professionally it must still be seen as the pinnacle of the motorsport world in terms of what you are learning and the skills you acquire on the CV.

[Big Nanas]

Excellent thread.

Ok, how do you feel about the regs for the '26 season? Is it going to be as chaotic as we think it may be?

[hooch500]

I have a question regarding car set up. Obviously it’s been widely discussed that the Red Bull has been designed with MV in mind. Needless to say the regulations push designers generally in the same direction when chasing performance. With this in mind, coupled with the fact that many things can be changed to alter vehicle dynamics, how is that no other RB driver can get performance from the RB car ? Surely they can hone a car to a drivers satisfaction ?

[Sandpit Steve]

AnonymousF1_2025 said:

pteron said:

Have you ever been chosen to represent the constructor team on the podium? (Assuming your team has ever been on the podium of course!)

I have

Nice! That must have been great fun, standing up there looking down at the crowd and the rest of your team.

[Megaflow]

Was the paddock as pissed off with the FIA for AD 2021 as (most) of the fans were?