Sitting down with a Mercedes F1 intern!

By Joyce Shamini, CV & Hariz Roslan, CE

A mug of coffee in hand, Mechanical Engineering final year student David Bong from Serian, Sarawak shared with us his overseas internship experiences all the way in the United Kingdom.

David was one of eight UTP students given the one in a million opportunity to intern at the very heart of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1, its headquarters in Brackley, UK. With a CGPA only barely surpassing the minimum requirement, and after acing an hour long nerve-wracking interview with Robert Thomas, Chief Operating Officer at Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited, he embarked on an 8 month journey as insider of the F1 Racing World.

Although he had to work crazy hours and start from the most basic, menial tasks (literally checking on thousands of screw threads a day!), it was obvious from the highlights he gave us of his experience that the aphorism, “work hard, play hard” definitely stood true throughout his internship. The highlights of his internship include operating laser etching machines for racing cars in production, witnessing an FIA (Federation of International Automobiles) crash test firsthand, stripping down an actual used racing car, meeting world renowned Mercedes F1 drivers Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Ross Brawn the team principal, and vacationing across the country on his days off. One interesting story he shared which reflected the casual work ethics of the British was how his boss gave all the Malaysian interns two hours off during working hours just to get out and play in the first snowfall of winter.

When asked on the biggest hurdle he had to overcome, surprisingly it was something as subtle as the weather. The cold and sunlight-deprived winter in England was altogether very depressing and he gained newfound appreciation of the sunny Malaysian weather since then (Tronoh, anyone?). Next to that, there was the general intimidation you get from being a small sized Asian surrounded by towering 6-footer colleagues. Nevertheless, he encourages all future interns to never be deterred by what may seem like a limitation at first, i.e. the weather or stature. Start with what you are capable of, earn your superiors’ trust, and progress slowly from there on. He emphasizes that being proactive has brought him some of the best lessons and opportunities, so guys about to intern next January: Aim high, THIS could be your story next.

P.S. HOT would like to thank David Bong for his time and willingness to be interviewed for the content of this article