joeydawson wrote:Hi guys
sorry if this is in the wrong section,only just joined!! Just wondering if anyone had any info on how to get into f1 or motorsport? Iv just finished a degree in leisure management&sports development and really wanted to get involved in the management side of motorsport. Would i have to do a masters to do this?i cant seem to find any courses related to it, most seem to be engenering.
thanks in advance
j
Hi Joey; F1 employment, just
as anything else, depends on your initiative. None of us can chart your way into motorsport PR, event organising, etc. for you. Your degree seems applicable, but if you wish to pursue your education further I recommend you try and make your masters' somehow motorsport/F1 relevant (
F1 is a very specific, but also very diverse, field within all motorsport). Who knows, perhaps you can tie in some sort of junior management project to your studies.
Do your homework, I cannot stress this enough, if you wish to advance you need know the field and know your limitations and personal resources.
Perhaps you could begin by going through something like "
Who Works in Formula 1" (
link) and charting different paths you could take by looking at all the companies and venues involved. It may well be that you'll be able to
invent a reason why you should work for someone, as much as someone within F1 realising they could use someone with your particular strengths and ideas. And -
this is an important notion for a person in your field - I guess a significant percentage of people whose work involves F1 don't work for the teams themselves. Also, keep an eye on venues like "
Motor Sport Business Forum" (link) and/or trade shows like "
Autosport International" (link). Seeking a temp job/volunteering/internship in something like those could well be a way into the field.
Nowadays established job search engines actually yield many hits with keywords like "motorsport", have you tried those? Some F1 teams also sport openings in their websites (
at least Williams does). Then there are motorsport specific sites like "
Motorsports Employment" (link) and "
Racing Jobs" (link), but I can't vouch for those as I've no experience of using them.
Manchild's ironic take on F1 also carries some seeds of truth and important lessons. The higher rungs of the sport are still very much based on the personal relationships of relatively few people and can be immensely political, not to mention patently opaque to the outside observer. Nicholas Todt, Ferrari executive director Jean Todt's son is an example as good as any. He's involved with various drivers as a manager (
Massa), or through his web company
NTNZ (link) (
Alesi, Rosberg, Barrichello, Monteiro, Montagny ...) as well as sponsors and media (
Automoto365, TAG, Shell, Olympus, Vodafone, L'Oreal, FIAT, Ferrariworld ...). On top of this he's an owner in a GP2 team,
ART Grand Prix (link). So you can see that at some point personal relationships will count for something as well, depending on your ambition.
I'm not saying that you have to know everything of absolutely everything. Just use your best judgement in charting a range of agreeable paths, pay closer attention to the requirements of those, and try to make one or two happen.
