Marking Our Mentorship Programme with AFBE UK

In late February, we were delighted to host a closing ceremony to mark the completion of our six-month mentorship programme between Team members and students from our Accelerate 25 partner, AFBE-UK.

The students from AFBE-UK joined our Team members to celebrate their learnings and discover more about a career within our Team.

The morning started with a welcome from our Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and other members of our Team around a show car, before a brief and inspiring history of Grand Prix racing and the formation of Mercedes.

Afterwards, three of our recent graduate recruits, Tor (Health & Safety Partner), Biiftuu (Graduate Mechanical Design Engineer), and Youssef (Graduate Aerodynamicist) talked to the students about their career paths into Formula One and working at Mercedes-AMG F1. A common theme of their success was the value of mentorship, and a desire to expand their personal development and networks beyond their university degrees. The morning session concluded with an opportunity for the students to ask our HR representative questions on our recruitment process.

Lunch provided an opportunity for the mentors and mentees to catch up face to face and to network with more of our Team members.

The afternoon was rounded off with an insightful discussion on the learnings and conclusions of the mentor programme. All were in an agreement that the relationships formed between the mentors and mentees should continue post the programme’s conclusion, and the partnership between AFBE-UK and the Team is helping to achieve greater diversity within the UK’s engineering workforce.

Awai Collins-Harrison, Co-Chair, AFBE-UK England, Mentoring Subgroup, AFBE-UK England joined the mentees at the event. Speaking on the success of the programme she said, “As a result of the programme, a lot of the mentees are now interested in careers within motorsport. They now understand better how they can get into the industry. The programme has also given them the opportunity to network with the mentors within the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team.”

Echoing this, Jayan Mistry, AFBE-UK mentee said, “The mentorship programme has given me the confidence which I didn’t have before to apply for graduate roles and go through the interview process with the help from my mentor.”

Reflecting upon his participation in the programme, Abduljalil, Team member and mentor said, “The highlight of the programme has been learning from my mentee. For me, it has been a mentor versus mentor relationship than a mentor versus mentee relationship.”