Ever since the new hybrid era of Formula One began in 2014, there has been a renewed focus on the role of fuel and oils which are essentially the lifeblood of any engine in finding performance gains.
Teams have a strong tie-up with fuel suppliers and have been working closely to extract lap-time from new blends that not only give performance but efficiency as well. And since 2014, Mercedes F1 team has dominated the sport, winning the last five Formula One World Constructors’ Championships and Petronas has played a crucial role in that.
Celebrating its tenth season of its technical and title sponsorship with reigning Formula One champions, Petronas recently launched its global search for a ‘Trackside Fluid Engineer’ to provide onsite technical support for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport in the 2020 FIA F1 World championship.
The Malaysian oil-giant provides fuel, oil and functional fluids for all Mercedes-powered teams and is hoping to build on its success.
Speaking about the talent hunt, Dato Sri Syed Zainal Abidin, VP, Marketing Downstream Petronas said, “We wanted to have new people and increase the talent pool and get the best. So that’s how the talent search started and by this, we are able to put people at the centre of it as a marketing tool.
“We had responses from India as well last year and we are hoping we could have an Indian engineer soon.”
The Trackside Fluid Engineers analyse samples of oil taken before and after every session during the race weekend. Similar to doing a blood test on a human body, the Trackside Fluid Engineers are monitoring the amount of metal wear in each sample, enabling them to detect any potential issues inside the engine.
Elaborating on the tie-up with Mercedes and the way being in F1 has helped translate into better products, Dato Sri added, “We have benefited in many ways, be it from a technology point of view and branding. We have learnt a lot about the expectations and requirements of the F1 engine.
“For example, we introduced friction modifiers for F1 for the new era and we have been able to reformulate that for the road market. “It has helped us increase our market share as the consumer feels it had made the engine responsive and improved efficiency.”
The search is open until September 25, 2019.
To apply, visit Petronas Lubricants International LinkedIn page or email ptfe2020@pli-petronas.com.
(The writer is in Monza at the invitation of Petronas)
