McLaren Racing today announced that it is has sponsored five students as part of The Smallpeice Trust’s Arkwright Engineering Scholarship programme. This grassroots investment has been funded through McLaren Racing Engage, a strategic alliance with four expert partners to drive forward a programme of initiatives to diversify talent in motorsport.

The Arkwright Engineering Scholarship is designed to inspire students aged 16, who have identified engineering as their chosen pathway and encourage them to pursue their career goal of becoming a future leader in engineering. The Scholarship is awarded to successful students through a rigorous selection process, supporting them through A Levels, Scottish Highers or equivalent qualifications.

Throughout the two-year scholarship, McLaren Racing will provide funding to the five successful students and their schools to enable the purchase of study resources and equipment and will support each student with a dedicated mentor from the McLaren Formula 1 engineering team. The mentors will offer ongoing support by giving the students an insight into the everyday life of an engineer, while helping to furnish them with the skills required to be successful in future STEM careers.

The scholarship is the second initiative from McLaren Racing’s partnership with The Smallpeice Trust through the McLaren Racing Engage alliance, which will further encourage, nurture and invest in the talent of tomorrow.

Rebecca Constable, Director, People Experience, McLaren Racing, said:

“We’re thrilled to support five Arkwright Engineering Scholars, providing funding to them and their schools so they can invest in the technology and tools which they will need to see them through their scholarship.

“Being able to provide mentor support and offering real-life work experience is something which we are particularly proud of. When we announced that we would be partnering with the programme, we were overwhelmed with support from our engineering teams and uncovered that we have several Arkwright Engineering Scholarship alumni working within McLaren Racing, so it seems fitting that they were selected as mentors to support the next generation of talent.”

To mark the beginning of their scholarship journey, McLaren Racing invited the five successful students, their parents and Dr Kevin P Stenson of The Smallpeice Trust, for a tour of the McLaren Technology Centre where they spent some time getting to know their engineering mentors, gained an insight into the history of McLaren and met with F1 driver, Daniel Ricciardo.

Dr Kevin P Stenson, CEO, The Smallpeice Trust, said:

“As part of McLaren Racing’s commitment to their Arkwright Engineering Scholars, it was invaluable for these brilliant future engineers to visit the home of McLaren Racing and meet their mentors. If we are to retain brilliant and diverse young people aged 16 to 18 in the engineering talent pipelines, it is essential that they experience cutting edge engineering in action and meet relevant engineering role models.”

Chris Wilson, Composite Design Engineer, McLaren Racing, is one of the mentors who will be on hand to support and guide the students as they progress through the scholarship.

Of his motivation to become a mentor, Chris said: “I decided to become a mentor as back when I was studying, I went through the Arkwright Engineering Scholarship programme myself and it was great for me. It helped with my interview technique which ultimately led to securing my role at McLaren Racing. Over the next two years we’ll be working with the students, showing them what McLaren is all about and helping prepare them for a future as a professional engineer”.

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