TO INFINITI AND BEYOND
The global search for F1’s next engineering superstar starts here. Visit academy.infiniti.com
INFINITI’S global search for the best and brightest young engineering talent continues, as the 2017 edition of the INFINITI Engineering Academy gets underway.
Now in its fourth year, the Academy will again offer engineering students from seven different regions around the world an unparalleled opportunity to join a 12-month placement working on both automotive and Formula One™ technologies, thanks to the technical partnership and strong collaboration between INFINITI Motor Company and the Renault Sport Formula One™ Team. Engineering students can now apply at
academy.infiniti.com. Applicants must complete an online engineering puzzle test salary, designed by math and science problem-solving experts Brilliant.org - as part of a multi-stage recruitment process. The best applicants will be invited to participate in a regional final, where ten finalists in each region will compete to secure their place at the Academy.
A winner will be chosen from each region: Asia & Oceania, Canada, China, Europe, Mexico, Middle East and the United States. The seven winners will then move to the UK for the career opportunity of a lifetime: six months with INFINITI Motor Company at its European Technical Centre (Cranfield), and six months working with the Renault Sport Formula One™ Team in its Enstone facility.
The prize package includes accomodation, travel, access to an INFINITI company car, a and the possibility to work alongside world-leading engineers at the cutting edge of the automotive and motorsport industries.
“The INFINITI Engineering Academy offers an unparalleled opportunity for young, fresh-thinking engineers to experience the best and latest technologies in automotive and motorsport engineering,” says Cyril Abiteboul, Managing Director of the Renault Sport Formula One™ Team.
“The Academy Engineers that we have working with us at Enstone are a big asset to us as we continue to strengthen our technical resource, so we are looking forward to welcoming the 2017 class.”
Turn over to find out how to apply…
Why the INFINITI Engineering Academy matters
As previous winners of the INFINITI Engineering Academy will attest, this isn’t your typical student placement – a bit of paid work experience in a professional environment and then ‘be on your way’.
The INFINITI Engineering Academy is a serious project – for INFINITI Motor Company, for the Renault Sport Formula One™ Team, and for the talented students chosen to become part of the group. Both organisations have a serious desire to nurture the engineering talent of the future, and boost the quality of their respective products at the same time.
INFINITI Motor Company wants youngsters who will make its road cars better; the Renault Sport Formula One™ Team wants engineers who can make it more competitive in the high-paced world of Formula One™.
“Motorsport is becoming more functional for the automotive business,” says INFINITI Global Motorsport Director Tommaso Volpe. “We believe that in the future this connection will be stronger and stronger. That is why we created the INFINITI Engineering Academy.
“The main benefit for us is to recruit talent, but also to increase diversity in our organization. We consider ourselves a quality, global brand, and we believe in diversity. With this project, we are taking diversity into Formula One™, which is a global sport but pretty much a European industry.
“This is a unique project because the placement these guys do is six months in automotive and six months in Formula One™. It is very difficult for students to gain access to Formula One™ and a large corporation like INFINITI. We are training the engineers of the future with this kind of dual experience.”
“It’s important to be out there developing talent,” adds Abiteboul. “Formula One™ is all about talent. We talk about technology, but technology is really the result of talent. The level of technology is getting higher and higher in Formula One™ and if you want to be competitive you need to source all of this technology and level of expertise, and you can only do that if you open yourself up to the world. It’s a fantastic opportunity to be on the market for new, young engineering talent, and select the best of them.”
How INFINITI bolsters Renault’s F1 effort
INFINITI Motor Company and the Renault Sport Formula One™ Team have been collaborating technically since the French manufacturer returned to Formula One™ in 2016.
Apart from working together on the INFINITI Engineering Academy, the main area of collaboration between the two organisations involves developing the complex Energy Recovery Systems on current Formula One™ cars.
The Renault Sport Formula One™ Team has introduced an all-new ERS to its car for 2017, developed in conjunction with INFINITI.
“There was a natural union between INFINITI’S
“IT IS VERY DIFFICULT FOR STUDENTS TO GAIN ACCESS FORMULA ONE™ AND A LARGE CORPORATION LIKE INFINITI. WE ARE TRAINING THE ENGINEERS OF THE FUTURE WITH THIS KIND OF DUAL EXPERIENCE.” TOMMASO VOLPE, INFINITI GLOBAL MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR
strategy in marketing, and the needs of Renault for the future, because of all there is to be done – on the engine side with this new ERS, or on the chassis side with the major recruitment process going on in Enstone,” explains Abiteboul. “It’s exciting, because we can add a lot of expertise that we cannot create internally.”
INFINITI has embedded engineers into the Renault Sport Formula One™ Team’s base of engine operations in Viry-châtillon as part of the collaboration, and as well as bringing its own expertise to bear on the Formula One™ car, also takes lessons and applies them to its range of luxury vehicles.
“The idea is to develop the ERS technology in Formula One™ and transfer back this experience into our core business,” says Volpe. “The two technologies are similar, though of course the system we produce in automotive is different in terms of design and production. But there are lots of areas you can learn from each other.
“In fact, the recent unveiling of our Project Black S further demonstrates the depth of the technical collaboration between INFINITI and the Renault Sport Formula ONETM Team and is a great example of our motorsport-inspired technological objectives.
“Our technical partnership with the Renault Sport Formula One™ Team helps us make these daring steps forward, where we can take our hybrid technology developed for the road and closely examine it through the lens of the most advanced motorsport in the world.”