They tinker deep into the night, fueled by coffee and adrenaline, dreaming of perfect lap times. No, this isn’t about a Formula 1 team gearing up for the Dutch GP, but a group of Delft students with just as much dedication. Welcome to the world of Formula Student.
Formula Student is the largest global design and engineering competition, boasting a staggering eight hundred teams worldwide. Consider it the breeding ground for the new generation of engineers set to make waves in international motorsport. Each year, every team must build a completely new car from scratch with a new group of students. Once ready, the teams compete against each other in one of the many Formula Student competitions.
This year, the Delft team aims to impress with the DUT25 (Delft University Team), as the latest car has been christened. “To really pull this off, we’re working with an incredibly tight deadline. The students are in the workshop 24/7 working on the project,” says Renee Roozen, team manager of this project. “Think of us as a kind of mini-F1 team. We may not have millions to spend, but in terms of mindset and building a car ourselves, it’s quite similar.”
The effectiveness of this mindset is evident from the fact that many former members of the Delft Formula Student team have moved on to Formula 1. “We have people in almost every team,” says Chief Engineer Tim Guezen proudly. He himself hopes to move to Sauber soon. Renee Roozen adds: “This year, people are moving to Racing Bulls and Aston Martin. I previously worked at Red Bull, but returned to Formula Student because I missed it so much. But I noticed in Milton Keynes that almost all interns had Formula Student experience. And even in that group, you could tell that Delft has really made a name for itself.”
