Formula 1 and the wider motorsport community in Great Britain is heading towards a deepening skills shortage according to many in the industry. There was a pre-existing problem with not enough graduates of of a high enough calibre being produced and many of those who were good enough being tempted away by the banking industry, and a general lack of experienced staff. Quite simply put there were more jobs in the British motorsport industry than there were people.

According to statistics published by the Motorsport Industry Association in 2013 36% of motorsport industry companies in the UK which they could not fill and the situation has worsened significantly since then, at all levels of the sport. “There is a shortage of skilled engineers, particularly if you want skilled engineers with Formula One experience and that is partially to do with the fact that most engineers in Formula One these days are locked down with long-term contracts which makes it difficult to get them at relatively short notice” Bob Bell of Renault F1 claims. “I don’t think there’s necessarily a shortage of young, eager and very capable of graduates, for example, coming out of the education system. Most teams on the grid try and use that resource as much as they possibly can. And so, I think I would agree there is potentially a skill shortage but I think perhaps the difficulties that a team such as ours faces in recruiting is more to do with the difficulty of acquiring experienced F1 engineers already locked into existing teams.”



The University of Hertfordshire is a great example of how British engineering talent can be nurtured.

Perhaps two decades ago there were very few high quality graduates for the motorsport industry and very few university courses specialising in high performance engineering. However that has now changed and there are a vast amount of courses on offer across the country, admittedly they vary greatly in terms of the quality of teaching and facilities, but in general the situation has improved substantially. Perhaps eight or ten years ago there was a feeling that if a course has the word ‘motorsport’ in the name then the degree was pretty much worthless and was just an attempt by the University to get more students in, but today strong courses from the likes of Oxford Brookes and the University of Hertfordshire have changed that perception to some extent.



“I think we’re very fortunate in Formula One that it’s seen as a very attractive destination for engineers” Paddy Lowe of Mercedes F1 adds. “That wasn’t the case in the past. We have things like Formula Student that have created a greater awareness of the sport and the engineering within it particularly. And I think because of that we have become increasingly international in the staff that we recruit – from Europe and also further afield. So, I see that continuing to grow.”

But in June of this year a narrow and rather dishonestly fought referendum campaign saw the British electorate vote to leave the European Union. This ‘Brexit’ if it happens will serve only to deepen the the growing recruitment crisis in the UK. With no clear guidance on the status of EU nationals in Britain going forward (‘Brexit means Brexit’ though) already some experienced engineers are showing a reluctance to relocate themselves and in many cases their families to a nation which may essentially evict them at some point in 2019.

“We do employ a lot of European, particularly in aerodynamics, there seems to be a very strong contingent from France” Symonds adds. I hope that we still maintain relative ease of employing Europeans. It’s already very difficult to employ non-Europeans in the UK. In my opinion far too difficult. So I hope things don’t get any worse.” But it does seem that as things stand things will get more difficult, as the current British government drops hints that it is leaning toward a ‘hard Brexit’ and strict EU immigration caps. Indeed it will not even give clear assurances that EU citizens already living and working in Britain will be able to remain. If this ‘hard Brexit’ does happen then it will be a catastrophe for the motorsport industry, as the recruitment crisis will become so acute that many firms could be faced with the stark option of becoming uncompetitive or leaving the UK for the EU.

The availability of skilled people and the size of the motorsport industry is the reason that many companies invest heavily here, such as Honda which is pouring millions of pounds in to its two facilities in Milton Keynes currently. “We are already concerned about the effect of the Brexit’ Honda’s F1 boss Yusuke Hasegawa adds. ‘It is obvious that there are a lot of good engineers in the UK, we employ many, but the reason Honda is in Formula 1 is that we have to educate Asian engineers as well, so that we have to take this opportunity to hire more good engineers. But it is important that UK is very open to the world about this even. We don’t want to lose this situation, so please minimize this effect of the Brexit.”



Honda has two F1 facilities in Milton Keynes, located there because it could recruit from all over the EU

It has to be pointed out that it seems doubtful that Honda would have set up its facility in Milton Keynes if Britain was not in the EU, indeed it is questionable if Renault would have (re)purchased ‘Team Enstone’ (Lotus) had Britain been outside of the Union. Indeed Brexit could even reduce the number of British engineering graduates, as with overseas students likely to be limited some universities may find some courses are no longer viable post Brexit (especially in the case of a ‘hard Brexit’).

This may all sound like what many like to call ‘project fear’ but this is really ‘project reality check’ and this is clearly not just my opinion or from those within motorsport, all advanced engineering firms in the UK face the same challenge as, Peter Spencer, chief economic advisor to the EY Item Club highlighted recently; “so far it might look like the economy is taking Brexit in its stride, but this picture is deceptive. Once the UK has left the EU certain sectors, such as aerospace, automotive, and chemicals that trade extensively with the EU will be a lot more vulnerable.”



Tim Farron & Liz Leffman are two of the only politicians who are working hard to protect the motorsport industry – seen here at SS Tube Technology

So what as an industry can we actually do about ensuring our industry continues to thrive?

“As for the influence of Brexit, it’s too early to tell what the consequence of that will be on the future of the supply of engineers in the UK. I think it would be great if the UK plc could develop a stronger industrial base. I think that would be good for the country and I think all of us in Formula One would be fully supportive of initiatives that helped develop that. Not only would it potentially provide more engineering candidates for us in recruitment – but I think it would be good for the country as a whole” Bell suggests.

I voiced my feelings recently at an MIA event held in London where there was a big discussion about Brexit and the risk to the motorsport industry, and most present agreed that there was a significant risk. My suggestion was and is to put pressure on our politicians to take note of the motorsport industry, its value to Britain (which is far more than just financial) and its need to have access to the single market and its reliance on freedom of movement. This means demanding that your elected representatives push for a ‘soft Brexit’ or better no Brexit at all.

Perhaps a final life preserver for the industry in the event of a ‘hard Brexit’ would be an exemption from any EU citizen immigration caps, recruitment restrictions and also perhaps a tax free trading status with the Union. Such deals have been negotiated before in other nations (I hear of something similar in Barbados) but really it seems like a long shot.

If those politicians (not just locally, we as an industry can apply pressure on a national level) are not responsive, or lean a different way then perhaps it is time to vote for someone else, not just at national level but at local level, and most of the key motorsport industry areas in the UK will have some kind of election in the next eight to ten months, some much sooner!

If no way is found to protect the motorsport industry in the event of a ‘hard Brexit’ or to prevent Brexit at all many in the industry may need to start to consider reverse engineering the Bon Maman range of convserves as all we may be left with under the governments current plans is ‘innovate jams and marmalades.’