'This is the first time meeting other participants together after years of virtual events': A competitors view of Day 1 at the 2022 F1 in Schools World Finals

Hello! My name is Javier, Team Principal of Eclipse, and I will be providing you with daily updates from a competitor’s view of the event at Silverstone for the next two days as part of Off The Track’s coverage of the F1 in Schools 2022 World Finals.

Today has been an excellent and very exciting start to the World Finals, especially for many teams who have never taken part in F1 in Schools physically.

To put it in perspective, I have been competing with Eclipse for almost 3 years and this is the first time meeting other participants together after years of virtual events due to COVID-19.

The first event briefing was held after teams arrived at Silverstone, which included confirmation from Andrew Denford that the competition is wanting to continue in its current path of becoming, once again, fully physical.

Teams at the World Finals picked up ‘goodie bags’ and were made aware that all judging will take place in commentary boxes used for Formula 1 coverage.

Shortly after the briefing, pit display assembly began.

After having looked around, I truthfully felt proud to be part of a competition where students from all over the world have had the effort to design, manufacture and transport some really exciting, interactive and aesthetically pleasing displays that F1 in Schools teams are not gaining any points from at this World Finals.

It puts into perspective the effort and determination required to compete at this level of the competition which spectators should be very excited about over the next few days.

Each team then had the opportunity to visit Formula Student, a student engineering competition where university teams from around the world build, test and race a small-scale formula style racing car.

The cross-over between F1 in Schools and Formula Student teams that was highlighted during the visit evidenced how much of a benefit there is to taking part in the competition.

This was then followed by a trip to the Silverstone Interactive Museum which brought the day to a very nice close and further excitement for the rest of the week.

Javier Gladstone Contioso is a UK correspondent. He is the Team Principal of Eclipse, the 2021 English Champions. They will be representing the UK at the 2022 F1 in Schools World Finals.