© Getty ImagesInspiring The Next Generation Of Women EngineersOracle Red Bull Racing’s International Women in Engineering event was a huge success once again.
ForthesecondyearrunningandaspartofourDriveForChangeDiversityandInclusionstrategy,OracleRedBullRacing’seventcelebratingwomeninengineeringprovedhugelypopularwith45attendeeslookingforadviceandguidanceonthepossibilityofpursuingacareerinFormulaOne(F1).
The guests travelled from as far away as Costa Rica and Mexico to the Team’s Milton Keynes campus for the day which was part of International Women in Engineering Day.
International Women In Engineering Day© Getty Images
Friday 23 June 2023 was the 10th International Women in Engineering Day, it was first organised in 2014 by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) to encourage more women to consider a career in the industry.
The event was hosted by the Team’s female engineers and supported by Team Partner Rokt, a global leader in ecommerce technology. It was aimed towards women at all stages in their engineering career, from those who had just completed their school education looking towards university to those with a PhD and wondering about a career change. The aim was to showcase the many engineering roles available and inspire women to consider careers in F1 Engineering roles.
The day began with a panel of Oracle Red Bull Racing’s engineers hosted by Hannah Schmitz the Team’s Principal Strategy Engineer. She was joined on stage by Test Engineer Aimee Gibbard and Production Controller Reagan Peet. The three captivated the audience, explaining how they began their career in F1 and how they still enjoy every day. The trio were all very passionate about the need for women need to believe in their own ability.
“The day has been so important,” said Reagan Peet. “Last year I was at the Powertrains table and an attendee came up to us with her CV and asked for some advice and now, a year later, she’s part of our team – the proof is in the pudding, it works. The women here are amazing. The one-to-ones I did today, all of them have more experience than I did when I started working here. Events like this are really, really good to give people the confidence to look at the other roles they hadn’t thought of, or didn’t know existed.”
Aimee Gibbard agreed: “I think it’s so important and I’m glad it’s something we now do. It’s a great opportunity to give the women the skills they need. From walking around the room, I’ve noticed that the women have the skills [but] they just don’t know how to showcase them. It’s a great chance to sit down with them, go through their CVs. We’re not telling them what to write, we just explaining how to highlight it.”
The first talk was followed by a panel where Rokt The Rig, a global talent search for female F1 sim racers, was announced. This will see Oracle Red Bull Racing and Rokt work together to identify six female sim racers to invite to the Rokt the Rig women’s sim racer development programme, where Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports will work with them directly to help develop their racing talent and provide opportunities for them to compete or work with the team in another capacity.
Hosted by Chelcee Grimes, the panel included Srishti Gupta Rokt’s Chief Product Officer, Esports Communications Executive Laura Craig, Red Bull Racing Esports Driver Sebastian Job and Oracle Red Bull Racing Content Creator Ash Vandelay who joined remotely from her US home.
The panel also spoke about how important diversity in Esports is and how Rokt The Rig is part of the two organizations’ efforts to promote diversity in esports, technology and commerce across the globe. Srishti Gupta explained why Rokt’s collaboration with the Team is so important. “If you think about it, Red Bull Racing puts value into diversity and representation of women and that aligns naturally with what we do and that’s why we’re very excited about it. It’s a good cultural fit.”
Future Sim Racer© Getty Images
After the talks there was a meet and greet for the attendees where they were invited to talk to the women engineers in the Team who cover every aspect of engineering from software and data sciences to aerodynamics and electronics. It was also a chance for one-to-one sessions for the attendees to get some real insight into the world of F1 and how they can prepare their CVs to highlight why they would be the perfect candidate.
The event finished with a tour of the campus, but before that they were treated to an interview and Q&A with legendary racing driver Tatiana Calderón.
Attendee Anneke Van Oosterom, who is currently studying data science, biology with a minor in maths flew in from St Paul Minnesota to be at the event and said she wouldn’t have missed it for the world. “I follow a few of the engineers on Instagram, including Hannah, and I saw them post ‘stop thinking you’re not good enough and apply’ so I did, and I received an email to say I was in, so I’m now here. It’s been a great day and worth the journey. Walking into the room and meeting all the women and seeing the support everyone gives each other is really inspiring.”
Ellie Hutchinson, another attendee, had a one-to-one with Hannah and found it very helpful before she embarks on an engineering degree in September. “That was really good and really informative, I’m looking for a career in F1 and exploring all the possibilities that could be open to me. It’s been a valuable experience.”
Zoe Mills, Head of Employee Experience at Oracle Red Bull Racing and one of the organisers of the event, was extremely proud of the day. “Today is really important to us. We find there aren’t enough young women doing STEM degrees, so we have to inspire them to be able to see that they can become it” she said. “It’s a great opportunity to come in and meet people just like them who thought that they might not be able to do it or thought that they weren’t quite good enough. They’re here talking to people who have had that journey and can hear first-hand about the fantastic roles they now hold within the Team. We are extremely proud to see our engineers inspiring aspiring engineers in this way. What a great way to mark INWED.”
International Women In Engineering Day 2023
International Women In Engineering Day© Getty Images
Future Sim Racer© Getty Images
Is That you Max© Getty Images
One Of A Kind Day© Getty Images
Bull For The Day© Getty Images
Passing On Inspiration© Getty Images
