The final of the 2008 Altran Engineering Academy took place this week at the ING Renault F1 Team's Technical Centre in Enstone, England. Brazilian Gustavo Brambilla beat off close competition from six other finalists with his project on camber optimization to become the Altran Engineering Academy's fifth laureate.
Following in the footsteps of previous winners from the UK, Spain, Sweden and the Czech Republic, Gustavo will return to Enstone in September and begin a six-month training placement working in the Research and Development department of the ING Renault F1 Team under Robin Tuluie. Salary, accommodation and a Renault company car will await him when his dream comes true later this year.
"Every year the quality of the candidates is improving and it is more and more difficult for us to select only one winner," commented Robin Tuluie, Head of R&D at the ING Renault F1 Team. "But that is the nature of competition and, considering different aspects of the work and presentations of the candidates, we are happy about the choice we made. I am sure all the other participants will find their way into Formula 1, if that's what they really want."
The six other finalists from Spain, UK, Italy, Germany, and the Czech Republic did not travel so far for nothing. This once-in-a-lifetime experience courtesy of Altran and the ING Renault F1 Team, coupled with an exclusive factory tour and gift bag, was very well worth the trip.
All of them impressed the judges by the quality and inventiveness of their projects. Headed by Robin Tuluie, the jury for the competition was made up of experienced engineers from Altran and the ING Renault F1 Team: Alfonso Martinez is the Managing Director for Altran Technologies in Spain, Olivier Guillaud is the head of technical coordination of the partnership between Altran and the ING Renault F1 Team, and Martin Ecke is a Business Manager of Altran Germany.
After hearing his name called out as the winner, a genuinely surprised Gustavo Brambilla commented: "I want to thank Altran and the ING Renault F1 Team for organizing this competition. Everything was perfect and I'm really excited about going back to Enstone and the chance to work with Robin!"
About the Altran Engineering Academy Founded in 2004, the Altran Engineering Academy is a unique initiative with a clear goal: giving young talent a chance. Formula 1 is a notoriously closed world where it is often extremely difficult for talented young engineers to get their break. In line with the ING Renault F1 Team's commitment to open up Formula 1 at all levels, and underlining Altran's commitment to engineering talent, the AEA was founded as a ‘star academy' with the goal of giving young engineers the chance to prove themselves at the highest level. The result has been a runaway success, with more than 1,000 young engineers entering detailed technical projects in the competition since 2004. Gustavo Brambilla is the fifth winner of the AEA.
