17 January 2023

ECLIPSE CROWNED LENOVO F1 IN SCHOOLS UK CHAMPIONS 

A team of three students from Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Faversham, raced to victory at the Lenovo F1 in Schools UK National Finals 2022 which took place last week at Autosport International, a motorsport show held at NEC, Birmingham. Their success has won them a place at the Aramco F1 in Schools World Finals 2023 to be staged in Singapore alongside the FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX 2023. 
 
The Lenovo F1 in Schools UK National Finals 2022 spanned two days of intense competition with the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School team named Eclipse comprising students, Tom Oliver, 19, Evie Curd, 17, and Javier Gladstone Contioso, 18, lifting the trophy. They also won the Pit Display Award and were nominated for the Sponsorship & Marketing, Verbal Presentation and Team Identity Awards.  
 
In second place was Honeycomb Racing, a team of students from James Gillespie’s High School, Edinburgh, and in third place, Imperium from Robert May’s School, Odiham. Honeycomb Racing will represent Scotland at the World Finals in Singapore, with Imperium joining the top two, representing England. Highest placed Welsh Team, Team Firestorm from St John’s College, Cardiff, and the Development Class winners, CHS Lightning from Cheadle Hulme School, Cheadle have also secured places in the Aramco F1 in Schools World Finals 2023. 
 
Eclipse Team Manager, Javier Gladstone Contioso, said after the team had been presented with the Lenovo F1 in Schools UK National Champions trophy, “We’re just shaking, it’s surreal and we can hardly believe it, it’s a dream come true. The last three years have been incredibly hard work, but it’s been an amazing experience, it means everything to us to have won.”
 
Andrew Denford, Founder and Chairman, F1 in Schools summed up the Lenovo F1 in Schools UK National Finals 2022 saying, “After two days of judging and racing for the competing teams it all came down to the wire and we crowned our Lenovo F1 in Schools UK Champions 2022. The judges were given a massive challenge by the outstanding work of these teams, with so much effort, passion, creativity and skill put into producing some of the most innovative designs of F1 in Schools scale-model Formula 1 cars of the future. 
 
“All the teams are winners for reaching the National Finals and for taking on the challenge presented by F1 in Schools. It is great to see them learning so much from the project, not just academically but also in the life skills they acquire in the process of competing and sharing their experience with their peers. We hope that many of them will use the experience in their future careers and benefit from participating in the competition. For the teams who have won through to our World Finals – see you in Singapore!”
 
The Lenovo F1 in Schools National Finals take place with the assistance of a host of partners and supporters. F1 in Schools thanks Lenovo, Denford, Project Management Institute Educational Foundation, The Institution of Engineering and Technology, Autodesk, Department for Education, UCL Mechanical Engineering, FIA Girls on Track/Motorsport UK, City University London, FIA Women in Motorsport, and Formula Student.