Question: What was it like working for f1. Did you get to actually go to the races

Gavin Devereux answered on 13 Mar 2012:

I did go to a few yes. We used to be able to choose any race we liked, and we’d get a free ticket for Friday, Saturday and Sunday (unfortunately though, they wouldn’t pay for the travel to races abroad, so it was Silverstone for me :-))

I also got to go in the garage with the test team at Silverstone. This was back when teams were allowed to test pretty much whenever they liked. Back then, a team used to have a separate race and test team. The costs were unbelievable, which is why they have banned season long testing now, to try to help the smaller teams. The best thing is the noise. The first time I was very close to an F1 car when it was started, I couldn’t believe the noise and vibration.

It wasn’t really the career for me though, because despite that sounding very glamourous, my day job back at the factory wasn’t really. I was sat at a desk using computer aided design software to design machining components. And, even if you’re part of the race team, it’s not always as great as it sounds. They often turn up at a country, go to the hotel, go to the track, work unbelievable hours, then just travel home. They rarely get to see much of where they are.

I still really enjoy watching and following F1 though. I also like spotting people on the telly who I worked with during my time there.