The Royal Academy of Engineering, working with Mission 44, has awarded Masters in Motorsport Scholarships to eight talented engineering graduates hoping to work in motorsport.

The eight scholars include three women and five men and are the second cohort of students to receive financial and careers support under an innovative programme to help increase diversity in Formula 1 and the wider motorsport sector. The programme was launched in June 2022 to address a specific recommendation from The Hamilton Commission that Sir Lewis Hamilton MBE Hon FREng set up to investigate the underrepresentation of Black people in UK motorsport and the STEM sector.

Mission 44 and the Academy welcomed the new awardees to the programme at a special event on 11 November at the Formula 1® Exhibition at Excel London hosted by Ariana Bravo, one of the presenters of Channel 4’s F1 show and F1TV. The latest scholars had a Q&A session with industry leaders and engineers from Formula 1 and the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 team at which they also  met some of the five scholars from the first year of the programme who have graduated and successfully secured jobs in F1 and wider sector. The event also included a tour of the exhibition and a session on the simulator.

The eight new Motorsport Scholars are:

• Mohamed, studying for an MSc in Aerodynamics and Computation at the University of Southampton
• Wesley, studying for an MSc in Motorsport Engineering at Oxford Brookes University
• Steven, studying for an MSc in Motorsport Engineering at Oxford Brookes University
• Gerren, studying for an MSc in Motorsport Engineering at Oxford Brookes University
• Tori, studying for an MSc in Automotive Engineering with Electric Propulsion at the University of Bath
• Lily, studying for an MSc in Automotive Engineering at the University of Leeds
• Chris, studying for an MPhil in Industrial Systems, Manufacture and Management at the University of Cambridge
• Mustafa, studying for an MSc in Mechanical Engineering Design at the University of Manchester