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Department of Engineering

On the winning team

On the winning team

Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes F1 W06 Hybrid: 2015 F1 Winter Testing (Circuit de Catalunya)

Alumni Herry McGibbon and Simon Colliss are both members of the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team’s Aerodynamics Department. Jack Struthers, co-editor of Cambridge University Engineering Society’s Cambridge Engineer magazine, spoke to them about life in Formula One (F1).

The more I do, the more I learn and that in turn sparks new and more exciting ideas to try.

Herry McGibbon

Jack: Many of us have harboured dreams of working in the glamour of F1.  What exactly do you get up to on a day-to-day basis and how close is your lifestyle to Lewis Hamilton’s?

Herry: I still pinch myself to make sure it’s real! Sometimes, you look up from your work and Lewis Hamilton is a few metres away chatting to someone. I got introduced to the Team Principal on, I think, my third day here!

Of course, those are the surreal moments. But while F1 is full of glitz and glam at the top end, there is a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes to ensure we have the best car on the grid, giving Lewis and Nico the platform to compete for podiums and to win every race. Here in the Aerodynamics Department we are responsible for the shape of any part of the car that is in the airflow – the wings, diffuser and bodywork. We are trying to increase downforce and reduce drag, but also ensure the car is aerodynamically stable under braking and through corners, and has adequate cooling flow to the engine and brakes. I have to work closely with engineers from other areas within the team to ensure that our concepts can be realised, and to make sure we have the best trade-off between outright aerodynamic performance and other factors (for example mass or suspension stiffness).

As for Lewis… well, we both drive a Mercedes and I like to think of Milton Keynes as the Monaco of England!

Jack: 2014 was a brilliant year for Mercedes in F1. How do you feel you contributed to winning the Constructors’ Championship?

Herry: You always feel like you’re contributing at Mercedes. It sounds clichéd, but there’s a really great team atmosphere and the guys at the top do a really good job of making everyone feel valued. Paddy Lowe (our Executive Director, Technical, and also a Department of Engineering alumnus) always holds a debrief after each race, so you feel included in the race weekend. You also get visits from the drivers every now and then, which is really great to remind you that they are human, just like us. But obviously, the big one for me is when my ideas actually make it all the way to the car. I contributed to a few bits for the 2014 car and now more are going on for 2015. 

Jack: As a member of the Engineering team, how close do you get to the action? Are there any job perks?

Herry: The Aerodynamic Department is generally a good few weeks ahead of the track in terms of the ideas we are working on, and if it’s big concepts it can be even longer. This is brilliant as it feels like we are right at the cutting edge of car development. But to get back into the race-day action a lot of people will volunteer to work race weekends in the factory control room.

I did one of these and they are pretty tiring but also incredibly rewarding to feel your direct contributions affecting the results of the race.

You do get a few perks, too. The team took everyone to see one of the test sessions at Silverstone last year which was really cool because it keeps us in touch with the end goal we’re all working towards. I’d never managed to go and see F1 before, so it was awesome to see and hear the cars going around the track – even more so when you know you helped create it.

Jack: Mercedes must have a huge amount invested in its aerodynamics department. How does the wind tunnel you work in compare to facilities here in the Department of Engineering?

Herry: One of the best things about working at Mercedes is the facilities we have access to. Our inhouse wind tunnel is a super modern state-of-the art facility, and testing in it is very different to the Markham tunnel in the Department of Engineering, where all undergrad testing starts out! The tunnel at Brackley is far bigger. The working section is taller than me and wide enough to test a full size car in, although current rules limit us to a 60% model. There is also a rolling road underneath the car to better simulate the boundary layer build-up in the crucial gap between underfloor and tarmac.

The model itself is also very sophisticated – underneath the aerodynamic surfaces it looks like something from a sci-fi movie, and the number of data channels used to analyse results is almost obscene!

In addition to the cool hardware, there is a small army of skilled people who make what we do possible. Almost all the parts for our wind-tunnel model are made by our in-house machine shop and Rapid Prototype facilities, then prepared in our Modelshop. Then the final parts are tested on the model, under the care of our wind tunnel technicians.

But it’s not just the wind tunnel that’s impressive, we have supercomputers that allow us to turn around an entire F1 car simulation in just hours. This is really important in guiding our ideas and learning more than we can get just from the wind tunnel. By combining these resources so effectively we maintain our edge over the competition. It’s quite a privilege to be able to use these sorts of facilities to test our ideas.

Jack: Some people find that when they make the transition to commercial engineering from academia the work isn’t as interesting. Do you still find the work as interesting as you expected?

Herry: Absolutely! The more I do it the more I learn and that in turn sparks new and more exciting ideas to try. In many ways it is more interesting than university. There’s no finding answers to questions that thousands of students before you have already done. Instead, there’s an opportunity to get creative and come up with your own theories and ideas, then test them in world class facilities. Every day brings new things and I’ve learned so many new skills.

Jack: Judging by the popularity of the Mercedes lunchtime talk, a lot of people at the Department of Engineering are thinking about getting into F1. How did you manage it? Have you got any tips on how to maximise your attractiveness to employers by internships etc.?

Herry: That’s really good to hear and I would definitely encourage anybody interested to have a go. F1 is a great environment to really test yourself as an engineer. Having said that, the Team gets a mountain of applications for every graduate position, so you have to really stand out from the crowd to make it.

The Department of Engineering gives students the strong theoretical base necessary to be a successful engineer, but you really need to have gone out to find practical experience to show that you can apply that learning.

The best bit about the job is definitely the freedom. There’s so much encouragement to come up with ideas.

Jack: Lastly, looking back on your time at Cambridge as old, wise alumni, what is your favourite memory of university? Also, if you could go back, what would you do differently?

Herry: My favourite memory? Probably 4th year, when everything gets a bit more applied and interesting; or maybe just Hugh Hunt… that guy is mad! If I could do something differently I would do what I said I would at the start of every term. Do the examples papers straight after covering the stuff in lectures, then I would have had more time for socialising!

Jack: 2014 was a brilliant year for Mercedes in F1. How do you feel you contributed to winning the Constructors’ Championship?

Simon: I started work at Mercedes the day after the thrilling battle between Lewis and Nico in Bahrain, when the pace advantage of the car first became really clear and it looked likely that the team would be taking the Championship. Nonetheless we continued to develop the car throughout the year and managed to retain - and maybe extend - our advantage until the end. Of course an important part of that is the aerodynamic design. Although we are a large team by Formula One standards, we work in relatively small groups and each person has to play their part, not only for development of our own ideas, but also the discussion and analysis of other concepts, and collaborating with other departments to enable a viable car to be produced. So from the beginning I was involved in projects which helped find performance gains that contributed to the record breaking year.

Jack: Some people find that when they make the transition to commercial engineering from academia the work isn’t as interesting. Do you still find the work as interesting as you expected?

Simon: Absolutely, yes. You can describe a Formula One car as flow control on wheels, and the aerodynamic design of the car is in many ways the pinnacle of the discipline. The day-to-day work and level of analysis required is very similar to the kind of thing I was doing during my PhD, except the deadlines are much tighter (days instead of years) and each of us has a number of projects on the go at the same time - there is never time to be bored, and it is never hard to be motivated. We have the privilege of working in world class facilities alongside some extremely talented people, designing an incredible end product that the whole company is passionate about. I couldn’t imagine ever wanting anything else for a career.

This article first appeared in The Cambridge Engineer magazine.

Herry McGibbon MEng Aerospace and Aerothermal CUED Graduate 2013, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team; Aerodynamics Department.

Simon Colliss PhD Aerodynamics CUED Graduate 2014, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team; Aerodynamics Department.

Jack Struthers MEng Aerospace and Aerothermal, CUED; 4th Year Undergraduate Student.

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