F1 in Schools winners given British GP VIP access at Silverstone

The F1 in Schools Technology Challenge is a fast growing engineering initiative which has captured the attention of thousands of students. And with the prize including a trip to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, including VIP paddock access, it is always a race to the chequered flag for the finalists.

This weekend six winning teams enjoyed their prize trips to the event, courtesy of Silverstone Circuit, and had once-in-a-lifetime experience joining the 128,000 fans for the British round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, as well as being given exclusive paddock access to see the stars of the sport and visit some of the team’s garages.

The F1 in Schools teams were invited to Silverstone as part of their prize for winning their age category at the F1 in Schools National Finals which took place at the Autosport International Show earlier in the year.

On Wednesday two teams, ‘Team Tigerzz’ from Ridgewood School in Doncaster and ‘St Bede’s Babes’ from St Bede’s School in Peterlee, were given unprecedented access to the Formula 1 paddock as the F1 teams prepared for the race weekend.

Team Tigerzz were invited to join the Panasonic Toyota F1 team in their stunning team hospitality unit for a VIP lunch. Afterwards they were whisked into the garage for an exclusive tour, and the highlight of the day for these students, sitting in Jarno Trulli’s race car. St Bede’s Babes were also given special treatment, visiting the F1 Paddock and being given a guided tour of the Torro Rosso F1 team garage.

On Friday the winning team from the F1 in Primary Schools Technology Challenge was invited to watch the first practice session of the Grand Prix from the exclusivity of the F1 paddock. The Caldew Lea Comets from Caldew Lea Primary School, Carlisle, Cumbria were guests of the ING Renault F1 team and were given a tour around the garage between sessions, before meeting BBC F1 TV presenter Jake Humphries for a quick chat and a photo.

On race day, the National Champions, Velocity, from St. John Payne Catholic Comprehensive School, Chelmsford, Essex were joined by Dash from Fitzalan High School, Cardiff, Wales and the Shooting Starz from Richard Rose Central Academy, Carlisle, Cumbria. The three teams were guests of the current World Championship winning team, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, with a tour of their garage and the team’s impressive brand centre in the paddock.

The three teams watched the 2009 British Grand Prix trackside and met the current World Champion Lewis Hamilton for a photo in the paddock to round off a sensational day.

Chairman and Founder of F1 in Schools, Andrew Denford commented about the visit, “The students had an amazing few days in the Silverstone paddock. They really had a full day of activities and the F1 teams we visited were so hospitable. We’ve taken teams to Silverstone over the years and they have always really enjoyed it, this year even more so. The atmosphere at Silverstone is second to none and our student teams had an unrivalled experience because they were able to get so close to the action.

“I’d like to thank Silverstone Circuit, Formula One Management and the Formula 1 teams for giving the students such an amazing experience. F1 in Schools is designed to encourage students to a career in engineering and what better way for us to demonstrate this than to see the inner sanctum of engineering excellence in F1 during the biggest racing weekend for British motorsport.”

The UK 2009/2010 F1 in Schools Technology Challenge begins later this year with students from across the country designing and building scale model F1 cars. They will compete in a series of regional events in the Autumn with the National Finals being held in January next year.