Williams team principal James Vowles will take to the stage at the Autosport Awards later this month to showcase the 10 candidates who have been selected as the first cohort of the Komatsu-Williams Engineering Academy.
The programme was launched last season, with the aim of attracting new and previously untapped talent from around the world.
A launch event was staged on the rooftop of the team’s motorhome at the Italian Grand Prix and, with unmatched mentoring, online learning and work experience opportunities throughout their educational journey, Komatsu and Williams’ joint venture is setting them out as industry leaders in early careers development.
Since the announcement, thousands of students competed through the STEM Racing competition, with hundreds of their finalists applying to the academy. Now the 10 who shone brightest through the process will have their name up on the screen at the Autosport Awards at London’s Roundhouse on January 29.
Vowles, who will address the room and present the 10 students inducted onto the scheme, has set out to take Williams back to the top of Formula 1 and has made no secret of his desire to do so by building from the ground up.
“The real solution behind it is, and I said these words on the first day that I joined the organisation, but we're going to break everything and that's really what we are doing,” he said at an Autosport Business panel event at the United States Grand Prix.
“We are going to go back to absolute foundations, making sure that we get the people absolutely right.
“That means hiring the brightest and best and training the brightest and best. So to give you an idea, we welcomed 110 early careers into the organisation, the organisation is 1000 people, if that doesn't tell you what we're doing for the future…that's a 10-year program before it really delivers strength, but that's where we're putting our investment.”
Included in that investment into the Komatsu-Williams Engineering Academy is providing mentors for the students, who will each get paired with a Williams engineer for quarterly 1:1 development calls.
Williams chief race engineer Paul Williams will be one of those available on the program and held a Q&A session with the academy winners in Qatar.
“I started my motorsport career as a graduate at Penske, working in both the UK and a stint in the US, however this is my 15th season at Williams, and I’ve benefitted from the opportunity to grow and develop within this iconic racing team,” Williams told Autosport.
“At Williams I’ve moved up from Trackside Aerodynamicist to Race Engineer and Chief Race Engineer, with overall responsibility for trackside engineering.
“Williams has invested heavily in its early careers programme over recent years, with industrial placements opportunities and graduate programmes to attract and support the best young engineers.
“The structured programmes give aspiring engineers the right opportunities, training, and development within a high-performance team culture, to excel in their careers and help take Williams back up to the top of the grid.”
Williams also has a simple message for the 10 who will start on the Komatsu-Williams Engineering Academy.
“As we all know, this is very much a team sport and the strength of the team, now and in the future, is critical to our success. That's why it's important we inspire and develop future talent from school age through to graduates, and as they continue their career within the team,” he said.
“Members of my team are a great example of this, having moved through the ranks from industrial placements to holding key positions within the current trackside engineering team.
“After spending many hours watching motorsport as a child in the 90s, it became my lifetime ambition to work to be an engineer in Formula 1 and I always kept that dream in sight. So, find your passion and make it happen. Work hard and never give up.”
