Twenty engineering students in the UK and Italy will become the latest recipients of the Formula 1 engineering scholarship during 2024 and 2025, as the programme enters its fourth year. The scholarships provide crucial financial, academic, and career support for students from underrepresented backgrounds, while offering them an insight into the motorsport industry as they prepare for their careers.
Founded in 2021, the scholarship addresses some of the key barriers to higher education for these students including the financial burden and accessing opportunities. The scholarship covers the entire cost of the student’s tuition, together with living expenses for the full duration of their degree. It also ensures that the scholars can access support for their careers, including work experience with one of the ten Formula 1 teams during their second year of study, as well as career workshops and mentoring.
Till now, the scholarship has helped 30 students from partner universities across the UK and Italy and will see 50 students in total supported through their studies by 2025. Earlier this year, Formula 1 welcomed the current group of scholars to its media & technology centre in Biggin Hill, Kent where they toured the broadcast centre and received insightful career talks from leading engineers and production colleagues from within F1.
This year’s cohort, who are already students at Strathclyde University, Imperial University, The University of Cambridge, University of Oxford and The Motorvehicle University of Emilia-Romagna (MUNER), are selected against a number of criteria set out by the participating universities who consider applications from students of lower socio-economic and underrepresented groups, including women and people from minority ethnic groups.
The scholarship is one of several schemes designed to build a more diverse and inclusive Formula 1 by breaking down barriers and encouraging all people regardless of gender, ethnicity, or social background to get involved in the sport.
