NEWS: Mercedes Apprentices Meet HRH Prince Harry

It's not every day you get to meet a member of the Royal family, but that's what happened to two of our apprentices earlier this week at Silverstone.

Prince Harry is Royal patron of The Silverstone Experience and attended its launch event, giving construction of the project - which will bring to life the history of Silverstone and British motorsport - the green light.

The Mercedes-AMG F1 W09 EQ Power+ showcar was centre stage at the event and received plenty of attention - especially from the Prince, who took a particular interest in the new-for-2018 Halo.

Prior to the launch ceremony, the Prince visited Silverstone's University Technical College (UTC) and met with students, teachers and graduates.

Two of those graduates were our very own Amber Morris, Engine Systems Technician, and Dan Pomfret, Composite Apprentice.

"Meeting Prince Harry was very exciting. It's not every day you get to meet royalty," Amber admits. "We had the opportunity to talk with him about what it is we do at Mercedes F1, and about what it was like being a student at the UTC."

Dan adds: "I'm glad to see that he was so interested in what the UTC programme had to offer, and how the college has helped us get where we are today."

They were representing the team as part of a group of high-quality apprentices and UTC graduates now successfully working at Brackley and Brixworth, as well as in the wider motorsport industry. Amber and Dan were accompanied by our Head of Build, Peter Hodgkinson.

"I started as an apprentice years ago and without an apprenticeship, I wouldn't be doing what I do," Peter explains. "To me, that makes it very, very important and I am very supportive of our apprenticeship programme.

"Youth is the future of any team or organisation. To give those kids the best opportunity to start out in life, to train them, develop them and see them go on to great things is brilliant, and a big responsibility."

Silverstone UTC will work closely with The Silverstone Experience, using the technical heritage of British motorsport to help inspire high-performance engineers of the future - like Amber, Dan and other graduates.

"It is well-known that Great Britain is a world leader in high-performance engineering and motor racing engineering in particular - as well as having some great drivers as well," Prince Harry said, during his visit.

"But it is no exaggeration to say that unless we encourage more young people to study science, technology, engineering and maths it will be impossible for us to continue to lead in this field.

"I'm really encouraged to see the state-of-the-art facilities and equipment in the Silverstone University Technical College.

"More significantly, to have met the enthusiastic young people studying there as well as those who have gone on to start their careers with leading employers in the motorsport industry."

We're excited to see what The Silverstone Experience has to offer when the project is completed in spring 2019!