Renault offers young engineers a chance to get ahead

We receive many messages asking, "How do I get a job in F1?" Renault has announced that it is expanding its intern programme, known as the Altran Engineering Academy, for this year and is offering a placement at the engine department at Viry as well as the team’s chassis HQ in Enstone.

Renault is keen to encourage young engineers to come into F1 and three graduates of the programme have gone on to full time jobs with the team, one is still working there today. Last year's winner was Helen Makey (pictured)

Renault’s managing director Bob Bell says that ideas from the interns are often adopted, such as a new system for designing oil tanks which one intern developed and which is now the team’s standard procedure,

“We had a problem several years ago on designing oil tanks so they can cope with the demands of corners like Eau Rouge, in Spa, where it’s very easy to get a drop out in oil pressure, “ says Bell. “We had a system in the laboratory trying to replicate those conditions and one of the young engineers came in and did a very capable job in proposing a new way of doing it using a robot arm, that is the system we now use routinely.”

This is the seventh year of the Altran programme, which typically attracts around 1,000 entries a year and the winner gets to spend six months in the R& D department at Enstone, working with head of R&D Robin Tuluie.

Entries open today and close on May 28th. Applicants must be last-year students or recent graduates of a university or prestigious school specializing in science or technology. To enter the competition, candidates must submit a project, describing in 500 words a technological innovation in one of the following eight Formula 1 areas: aerodynamics, control systems and electronics, design and analysis, performance engineering, power-train energy recovery, R&D of materials, transducers and test technology , vehicle dynamics. The winner will be selected from a field of eleven finalists from around the world who will present their projects this summer to a jury of experts chaired by Tuluie.

11 finalists will be chosen on 14 June and the winner will be announced on 13 July. He or she will join the team for a six-month placement that could open the door to a long career in F1. Included in the package is a salary of €6,500, a Renault pool vehicle with a business fuel card and accommodation. They also get a watch from Renault's sponsor TW Steel.