Year 7 pupil Lara Gupta won a competition run by Girls on Track UK to spend a day at the Mercedes Formula One Team Headquarters in Brackley and meet the female team members working there in motorsport and engineering.

The competition challenge was to design a Mercedes car of the future. Lara created a new environmentally conscious car with components made from recycled materials such as the seats and tyres, vegan leather seat belts and solar panels to charge the car. Before designing her car, Lara conducted research into Mercedes to ensure she created a unique product, called: the Mercedes Eco-Bee.

Lara, a Formula One fan, was overjoyed to visit the Headquarters with her father. Lara has been a fan of the sport since she was quite young and very much enjoyed all the activities on offer including a factory tour, pit stop challenge, viewing show cars, and a Lego challenge.

On her visit to Brackley Lara said: “I had the most amazing day, and I really enjoyed being in the racing environment. I also met some inspiring women whom I hope to stay in touch with. It was inspiring to walk around the Headquarters, looking at all the previous race cars and trophies won by the Mercedes team. I’ve always been a fan of Formula One for as long as I can remember, and this has inspired me to pursue a career in Formula One. Thank you to Girls on Track UK for an amazing day!”.

Mrs Bradshaw, Head of Science, said: “We are delighted with Lara’s amazing achievement in this STEM competition. Women continue to be underrepresented in the STEM subjects and engineering and Lara has shown what a fabulous aptitude and ability she has in this field. I hope her enthusiasm continues and we look forward to seeing her next exciting designs and nurturing her talent further.”

Following her inspiring visit to Mercedes, Withington’s Development Team were pleased to introduce Lara to alumna Clare Sibley (Class of 2005) who is Head of Quality and Manufacturing Engineering at Williams Racing. They had an in-depth chat about working in motorsport and her experience of being a woman working in the industry. We thank Clare for her time.