© Timo Ernst
Inspiring Women In EngineeringOracle Red Bull Racing’s inaugural Women In Engineering Day event was a huge success.
OracleRedBullRacinghosteditsfirsteventpromotingWomenInEngineeringDaytoencourageandinspiremorewomentoentertheworldofFormulaOne.
The event, which was supported by the Team’s title partner Oracle, was attended by 45 women from around the world who are passionate about engineering. The experience of the attendees ranged from those studying maths and science at A-Level to those who have completed their PhDs and looking for a new challenge in their career.
The day, which took place at the Red Bull Technology Campus, began with an introduction from Hannah Schmitz the Team’s Principal Strategy Engineer and Technical Director Pierre Waché. There was then a networking session where the attendees could chat to the women working in different engineering departments which ranged from aerodynamics, software, product control and Red Bull Powertrains. This was followed up with a factory tour that paid special attention to the engineering departments which most interested the atendees.
Thursday 23 June 2022 was the ninth 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. According to WES, only 16.5% of engineers are women, and in the world of Formula One, it’s a lot lower.
“Today we wanted to inspire women and get them more involved in motorsport and see if we can level that playing field,” said Hannah, who has been working in the Team’s strategy department for 12 years. “There has been lots of growth over the company since I joined, you see lots of women in here now. But it’ll be great to get more people involved on the race team.”
Attendee Kelsie Osborne believes that days like these are important, because representation makes all the difference. “For me, engineering wasn’t even an option growing up and there was very few women in racing. It’s much easier to see yourself in a role when you see someone like you in that position. When I was watching Formula One when I was younger, there was nobody like me to look up to. Days like these are great for people looking for an ‘in’ is great.”
Alexandra Ştefănescu, a CFD Tools and Methods Engineer (which is part of the aerodynamics department at Oracle Red Bull Racing), was one of the organisers of the event. She is very passionate about the importance of women becoming engineers and believing they can become an integral part of the Formula one team. “I want to breakdown stereotypes and myths around engineering,” she said. “I want women to not feel deterred from applying. I want them to feel they have just as good of a chance and deserve the same as everyone else.”
Alexandra went on to explain that by Oracle Red Bull Racing hosting events like today it breaks down boundaries. “I want our guests to be able to see other women in the industry and put down any sort of doubts and achieve an environment where we get the best talent and there are no barriers or preconceptions from us achieving that. It’s a shame that women are so underrepresented, there are so many good candidates out there and I feel if I can stop them from doubting themselves then I will do that – and that’s what today is about!”
Zoe Mills, Head of Employee Experience at Oracle Red Bull Racing, was also part of the organising team, and thrilled with the success of the day saying: “The energy at the event today was electric. There was such a buzz with new connections being made, powerful conversations and networking taking place. It was great to provide a platform for our incredible female engineers to share their expertise. We had guests representing over 10 different nationalities emphasising the international nature of the event. Our mission was to inspire women to follow a career engineering. We achieved that. Today we really made a difference.”
Caddie Zhang, who flew in from Canada to attend today’s event has been lifted by what Oracle Red Bull Racing has offered. “There is a bias against women when it comes to studying maths and physics. Seeing so many women engineers within Red Bull who are so passionate about their job makes me super happy and is very inspiring.”
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