Anyone who aspires to work for a Formula 1 racing team would do well to read Calum Nicholas’s new book, Life in the Pitlane. Nicholas, a senior engineer who has been part of the F1 Red Bull Racing team since 2015. He is also a member of the pit crew that held the 1.82-second world record for the fastest Formula One pitstop from 2019 until 2023.
How Nicholas found a job with the Red Bull F1 pit crew
Nicholas details his journey as a young man growing up in England. He had an interest in cars, but lacked direction until he attended the Formula 1 2009 British Grand Prix at Silverstone with his mother. Prior to the race, they walked the pit lane, an experience Nicholas now describes as a “light-bulb moment.”
“The moment at which my interest was well and truly sparked was when I saw one of the teams begin their pre-race pitstop practice. It was at some point during this, as I leaned over the barriers to get the best view possible, that my mind went from thinking ‘I could do that’ to “I’m going to do that.'”
Fortunately, Nicholas lived near Silverstone. Even more fortunately, the National College for Motorsport was located directly on the Silverstone Circuit. Nicholas talked with everyone he could at the college and was admitted, as one of just 60 students.
Because he already had experience working as an auto mechanic, Nicholas found much of the college curriculum to be easy, allowing him to spend as much time as possible at the race track, where he practiced his networking skills with teams participating in the numerous race events at Silverstone. His persistence paid off when Nicholas met his first goal, a position volunteering with a small Brtcar 24HR racing team.
From that first volunteer position, Nicholas continued to meet and talk with everyone who would listen. He also learned to say “Yes” and to volunteer for any task or job related to racing. Nicholas worked on several other teams in the interim, but in 2015, circumstances fell into place, and he joined the Red Bull F1 team as a mechanic. He still works as part of the Red Bull team today.
What life is like as part of the Red Bull F1 pit crew
If you imagine that working in an F1 pit garage is a high-pressure job, Nicholas provides plenty of evidence in his book to prove you are correct. Traveling to 24 races around the world each season, working long hours, often wth little sleep, in the company of elite motorsports professionals requires dedication and a strong identity with the team.
Nicholas only has good things to say about his experiences with Red Bull, and his pride at being part of the world record-holding pit crew shines through the pages. He recounts many stories about his experiences so far, including his views on inclusion and diversity in motorsports.
Nicholas does not provide specific details about salaries in F1 garages, although he does mention that Red Bull is not known for paying high wages. Mercedes pays technicians the most, according to Nicholas.
He is also clear that his Red Bull pit crew and pit garage experiences, admittedly at a cost to time spent with his family, have returned everything he imagined when he had his light-bulb moment at Silverstone.
