- INFINITI names Patricio Barroso, a student from University Anahuac as the 2018 Mexico winner of its acclaimed INFINITI Engineering Academy, following an intense trackside final at Hermanos Rodriguez Circuit ahead of this weekend's Grand Prix™
- Barroso will begin his 12-month placement with INFINITI and Renault Sport Formula One™ Team in January 2019
- Barroso is one of the only seven winners chosen by an esteemed panel of judges from INFINITI, Renault Sport Formula One™ Team and Harvard University
MEXICO CITY – Engineering student Patricio Barroso has earned his title as the Mexico´s Final winner of the INFINITI Engineering Academy 2018, securing a highly coveted and exclusive opportunity to work in automotive and Formula One™ with INFINITI and Renault Sport Formula One™ Team.
The 20-year-old Anahuac's student from Mexico City was selected from thousands of applications.
The INFINITI Engineering Academy is INFINITI's global search for bright engineering talent to work across automotive and Formula One™. It is the only recruitment program of its kind in the world, bringing an array of young, diverse and fresh thinking engineering talent who will gain first-hand knowledge and experience working alongside seasoned automotive and racetrack engineers in the exciting world of Formula One™.
After an action-packed event held trackside at Hermanos Rodriguez Circuit in Mexico City ahead of the Formula 1™ Gran Premio de Mexico 2018 this weekend, a panel including judges from INFINITI, Renault Sport Formula One™ Team and decision science experts from Harvard University proclaimed Barroso as the winner.
Competing against nine other finalists from around the Mexico´s, Barroso demonstrated to be a worthy winner as he tackled the numerous tests involved in the final event, including an engineering exam, one-to-one interviews with the judges, a dragster car build, challenges especially designed for the occasion by a team from Harvard University and by Renault Sport Formula One™ Team, and facing the media in a tough Q&A session where journalists from different industries evaluated his communication skills.
Barroso will relocate to the UK in January 2019 and be provided with a competitive salary, an INFINITI company car, travel and accommodations for one year. The Mechanical and Electronic Engineering student at University Anahuac, will spend six months working at the Renault Formula One™ Team's Technical Center in the UK (Enstone) and six months at INFINITI's European Technical Center (Cranfield). He will play a key role in the ongoing transfer of technical knowledge and expertise between Renault Sport Formula One™ Team and INFINITI.
Tommaso Volpe, Director, INFINITI Global Motorsport and Performance Projects, said: "The INFINITI Engineering Academy has grown every year, and now in our fifth year, competition for our limited number of slots is intense. Our partners at Renault Sport Formula One™ Team and Harvard University have helped us select the brightest engineering students from around the globe who will contribute to the future of the sport and the automotive industry."
Cyril Abiteboul, Managing Director, Renault Sport Racing, also commented: "Attracting top new talent is crucial for success in Formula One™, so we want to make sure that together with INFINITI we select the best engineers to work for this programme. Each one of these young engineers brings fresh perspectives and new ideas to the race team, which are vital."
For the 2018 edition of the Academy, INFINITI has partnered with Harvard University Professor Dr. Julia Minson, who specializes in decision science. Dr. Minson is working with the INFINITI Engineering Academy to conduct ground-breaking research into decision making in engineering, and how the very best engineers perform under pressure to make decisions when faced with vast amounts of complex data. The learnings from the research will then be incorporated by both the INFINITI engineering and motorsport teams to optimize their decision-making processes.
The IEA has been celebrated five times globally and three times in Mexico, during these three occasions the country has had the best number of applications globally compared to the other regions.
In the first edition the winner was Alexandros Paleologos, who after successfully finishing his program received a job offer in the INFINITI Technical Center as a full-time engineer and is currently living in the UK working on the brand's team; on the other hand, the student from Queretaro, José Pablo Ávalos, winner of the second edition in Mexico, has just finished his period of stay in the program and also received a work proposal from the R.S. F1 ™ team.
For more information on the INFINITI Engineering Academy, please visit academy.infiniti.com
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