Life as an emerging F1 star

The F1 in schools project – probably the biggest and the most successful sports project in schools ever – is coming to its annual finale this summer. So we will have a special series covering some of the most potential teams that can make a mark in the coming years and know how, at such a young age, they tackle the complex concepts of motion physics and bring forward something extra-ordianary. In this part of the series, we will focus on the rookie podium finishers and champions from the United Arab Emirates who made their mark at the UAE National Championships at the world famous Yas Marina circuit and are all set to extent their success to the world stages in the coming years.

Invictus Racing

The team consists of five extremely talented youngsters between the age of 14-16 years. The team is split up into various sections like car-development, resource management, graphic designing and advertising.

Resource Manager and Asst. Marketing Manager Ankit Jain told us,”F1 in schools is a wonderful project; it is a project where we have successfully found our talent beyond our textbooks and have understood how to face the corporate world.”

He also added it is a project where almost all the fields are tested whether it is finance, advertising, graphic designing or engineering.

The biggest aspect, though, is how you manage your funds so as to get the maximum from it. The funds are collected through sponsorship and in this sector, teams have got more than they expected. Many major companies have taken the step forward and have supported these teams to move forward and gain the confidence to compete.

“We got sponsors through research, Code Calling and resources from family and friends. Sponsors have funded us throughout our journey,” said the team members.

“Getting sponsors is not an easy job at all; we have hit our heads a million times and then we managed to get one sponsor. Last time, during the Nationals, we got two sponsors at the last moment, and we are thankful to them for helping us and therefore funding us to win the 3rd Place at the Rookie Nationals,” one of the team members added.

Team management has been an another aspect that has been the backbone of their success; hence, all the team memebers are assigned different roles -

1. Kabir Kohli – Team Manager and Car Designer

2.Ayesha Yusuf – Manufacturing Engineer and Asst. Car Designer

3.Ankit Jain – Resource Manager and Asst. Marketing Manager

4.Kavya NK – Marketing Manager

5. Namit Gugnani – Research and Development Manager and Asst. Graphics Designer

6. Harsh Thakkar – Graphics Designer

Only time will say how far this project goes, but for now, it has been the biggest talking point between students all around the world.