About a year before I joined, I was working in the automotive industry but F1® was my dream. If the opportunity came up, I had the support of my family to relocate – but I knew it had to be the right opportunity. Then, Cadillac Formula 1® Team was born, and it felt like destiny. An American team, an iconic American brand, and when I saw the opening for a Digital Mock Up Engineer, it was so closely aligned to my skill set it felt like it was created just for me.
I relocated from Philly to Silverstone and joined the Team 7 months before we were due to put the car on the grid for the first time. I missed my family, but we’d made the decision that I would move first, and they would join me later. From the moment my application was successful, Cadillac F1® Team were brilliant. They’ve helped me move my whole life and family, helping with visas and documentation, getting settled, making sure we were all ok. There have been some long hours over the last few months, but I really felt like I was part of a great Team – on and off the track.
I think that’s the one aspect of joining Cadillac F1® Team that has really stood out for me. There is a culture of constantly working together and always supporting each other. Every problem is solved together. Every challenge is faced together. Every door is open. If I’m honest, when I came here, I thought there would be a lot of egos. And I’m sitting around, often a century plus of Formula One experience, people with multiple decades, and there are no egos, which is amazing.
This organization has the flattest hierarchy that I’ve ever worked in. When they say there is an open-door policy, it’s true from everyone that I’ve spoken to. I can walk up to anyone, people with decades of experience and they’ll take the time and work through things with me.
What does the future hold?
The challenges going forward are always how do you put performance on the car? Everything, regardless of whether people are working in supply chain, logistics, marketing, et cetera, is always: How do you get performance to the car? How do you improve reliability? How do we get better and faster?
That’s always going to be the challenge. Each race, we get a mountain of data that we can use to improve at the next one. So, for me, the excitement is only just beginning. We have never raced before, we’ve never had the data before, so we’re learning so much and so fast.
Then there is everything else that we’re building here, too. It’s not just racing the car. The infrastructure is building around us. The Team is growing. The organization is expanding in the US and in the UK. There is so much more that we can achieve, and you can sense the anticipation. Everyone is here for the journey.
