Renault F1 and Infinity team fly from UK to UAE to offer unique internship

WHEN the Renault F1 team flew a crew from the UK to present a unique internship opportunity, the whole campus sat up and took notice. Leading this incredible presentation was Steve Fenwick, who is the Head of Full- Size Car CFD at Renault Sport Racing. An intriguing character, Steve exudes passion for design, and was enthusiastic about the possibility of the Infiniti/Renault collaboration for the next internship with a university student.

Andy Pacino got in touch with Steve and his team, who flew in from the UK to present an amazing opportunity for a UAE student to win a year’s internship with the Renault F1 team and the luxury car manufacturer, Infiniti. Along with Steve was 2016 competition winner, 23-year-old UAE student, Shihab Solaiman. Shihab beat thousands of competitors to garner the prestigious role, and he recounted his time spent as the previous year’s intern to prospective future competitors.

The highlight of the year also happened to be a first for him, which was the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, a phenomenal gig which he described as “incredible”. He got to spend time with the F1 team and chatted amiably with the race crew and F1 garage team, something he could only have dreamed about previously. Shihab met with the previous winner, who showed him some of the car features he had a hand in designing, and also got to spend time with drivers Tommaso Volpe and Chief Technical Officer, Bob Bell.

Then it was on with the presentation, where Steve gave a talk that outlined the amazing opportunity available to all students with an eye for design and IT. The innovative initiative encourages the best young engineering and IT students to pit their wits against their peers to win one of the most incredible internship experiences on the planet.

In a season where Ferrari and Mercedes led the field, Renault found themselves playing catch up, and it was down to another internship winner Sally Li, a Chinese student and junior designer, who came up with a new rear wing that brought Renault right up the field and gained their best finish of the season. It goes to show, that sometimes new thinking is what’s needed in an established team.

There were many universities vying for the chance to offer this opportunity to their students, and it was Andy who pulled it off, which was nothing short of an astounding achievement.