LEAF1, a team of six students from Simon Langton School in Canterbury, was announced as the Lenovo F1 in Schools 2024 UK National Champions last Thursday.
 
The official education challenge of Formula 1, the F1 in Schools competition sees participants design, make, and race miniature F1 cars, with teams assessed across a variety of areas - including car speed, engineering quality, brand identity and verbal presentation skills. This year’s event was the largest edition of the competition in its 23-year history, with 60 teams comprising 300 students all attending the Magna Science Adventure Centre in Rotherham to take part.

Supported by a number F1 teams, the event paid host to an F1 car courtesy of Williams Racing and saw members of the team attend the event alongside representatives from Oracle Red Bull Racing, Red Bull Powertrains, McLaren Formula 1, Mercedes-AMG HPP, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, and Alpine BWT Team. Many of those attending the event previously competed in F1 in Schools and took part in an alumni session which enabled current competitors to ask questions relating to their career path into the sport.​

​Made up of Atticus, 14, Sean, 17, Cole, 16, Zac, 17, Piers, 15, and Jaime, 16, LEAF1 competed over a two-day period for the top spot. The team was presented with their award by Sally Martin, UK&I Senior Commercial Marketing Manager at Lenovo, atop a confetti-filled podium at the event. Their prize will also see the team receive a scholarship opportunity at Aston University, work placements at Williams Racing, an exclusive experience at the 2024 British F1 Grand Prix, and a tour of an F1 team's factory. 

​Reflecting on their win, LEAF1's Team Manager Atticus said:  “We’re incredibly happy to be the UK National Champions! We’ve all worked so hard to get to this point, and we’re really proud of us as a team that we’ve finally made it - not just onto the podium today, but also to the Aramco F1 in Schools 2024 World Finals. We can't wait to represent England on the global STEM stage.”

Unity Racing's Team Manager Matiss added: “All the work we’ve invested has been more than worth it - we’re absolutely ecstatic to be going through to the Aramco F1 in Schools 2024 World Finals, and we can’t thank our teachers enough for helping us to get to this point. We couldn’t have done it without them.”

Justin, Team Manager of Vertex Racing, who came in third, finished: “It’s unbelievable to be going through to the Aramco F1 in Schools 2024 World Finals. We’ve been competing for a number of years now and didn’t think we’d ever get to the global stage of the competition, so to finally make it is just incredible.” 

Tom Milner, UK Project Manager at F1 in Schools, said of the event: "This year's UK National Finals was truly spectacular. The standard on display from all the teams was outstanding, and we know that the future engineers and pioneers of both F1 and wider industries are amongst those who took part. We'd like to congratulate LEAF1 for their brilliant performance across the board at the competition - we're looking forward to seeing what they, and all the Team GB competitors, go on to do at the Aramco F1 in Schools 2024 World Finals."​

Commenting on their achievements, Tom Milner, UK Project Manager at F1 in Schools, said: “Dynamite was a truly impressive team. Not only did their car perform brilliantly on the track, they also wowed the judges with their hard work across the other areas of the project, which really came through in their verbal presentation to the panel of judges."
 
The team was presented with their award by Sally Martin, UK&I Senior Commercial Marketing Manager at Lenovo, atop a confetti-filled podium at the event. Their prize will also see Dynamite receive an exclusive experience at the British F1 Grand Prix this summer, with paddock access and a highly sought after tour of an F1 team’s garage at the famous Silverstone race. 
 
Reflecting on their win, Dynamite’s Head of Communications, Chloe said: “It feels amazing to be the National Champions! We never expected to win, and I’m so proud of all the team for making it possible. We’d also like to thank our teacher, Mr Dwyer, for his support - we couldn’t have done it without him – and we can’t wait to go Silverstone this summer and see the F1 cars in real life.” ​