Patrick Durrant | Sydney
Talented youngsters representing an Australian school claimed the World F1 in Schools Championship held in Malaysia recently, with another Australian-German team joining them on the podium in second place.
Fifty teams from 27 countries competed in the championships of the popular STEM program F1 in Schools, with Hyperdrive, a team of four 15-17 year old boys from Trinity Grammar School in Victoria taking the top spot. Aurora, an Australian-German collaboration were runners up with a German team, Pioneers, taking third place.
If our future is in your hands, we’ve got a great future in this world
The awards extravaganza, attended by 650 teams, teachers, Malaysian royalty, dignitaries and key Formula 1 paddock personnel celebrated the achievements of the F1 in Schools World Finalists who also won valuable University scholarships from City, University of London and UCL Engineering, London.
They were also the guests of Formula 1 at the 2017 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix, with Paddock Club hospitality, Paddock passes and highly coveted Grid access for race day. Hyperdrive also collected the Williams Racing supported Best Engineered Car Award and were nominated for the McLaren Honda supported Research and Development Award.
World Finals Summary from Dr Michael Myers on Vimeo.
F1 CEO Chase Carey presented the awards and said education was second to none in importance because it represented the future.
“If our future is in your hands, we’ve got a great future in this world. It’s also tremendously exciting to see so many girls and all-girls teams in the competition, the teams from end to end, were fabulous.”
F1 in Schools challenges students to create their own Formula 1 team which is commissioned to design, construct and race the fastest miniature Formula 1 Car of the Future; a 21cm long scale model built from the F1 in Schools model block and powered by a compressed air cylinder.
At the World Finals each team brings along a pit display, their cars and a written portfolio, as well as having prepared a verbal presentation for the judges. The cars race on a 20-metre track, with the cars covering the distance in around one second.