From trackside to HQ: Singaporean interns lap up their Red Bull Racing stint

MILTON KEYNES, England – Among the leafy parkland, lakes and forests of Milton Keynes sits Bletchley Park, a museum and heritage attraction that draws thousands of visitors annually.

For those not clued into British history, it is where Alan Turing – the protagonist of the movie The Imitation Game starring Benedict Cumberbatch – and other code-breaking agents worked to decode the Germans’ secret messages during World War II.

The quiet city located 70km from London, with its odd abundance of roundabouts, is also where Red Bull Racing’s team of engineers, mechanics and data scientists work daily to crack the many secrets of Formula One racing, whether it is in aerodynamics, speed or downforce.

It is also home to Singaporeans Charis Chua and Heng Yi-Hsin, students from Nanyang Technological University who are here

on a 2½-month stint with the F1 team,

culminating in the Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix on Sept 22. The duo beat competition from thousands of applicants to win the Red Bull Intern Championship, organised and launched by Pokka, the official distributor of the Red Bull energy drink in Singapore.

The F1 team are supported by Red Bull’s blue-and-silver energy drink.

Chua, who has dreamt of working in F1 since she was 15, told The Straits Times that she has had a few “oh my god” moments since starting her internship with the hospitality and events team on June 17.

Describing the moment she saw Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey in the office on her first day, the 22-year-old said: “That was like the most ‘oh my god’ moment. It is surreal that these people I’ve seen on TV are literally just here and working alongside me.”

For her fellow intern Heng, who is with their relations and events team, her moment came later during lunch at the staff cafeteria.

She said: “I was having lunch and I could hear someone saying that Max (Verstappen) was here. I was very excited internally, but then I didn’t want to look weird. I didn’t see him, but that idea of having him sitting a couple of metres away was quite exciting and unbelievable.”

While Red Bull drivers Verstappen and Sergio Perez are rarely at the Milton Keynes headquarters except for pre- and post-season briefings, the 1.1ha facility is where over 1,000 employees work on making the car the quickest possible on race day, as well as other aspects such as marketing, hospitality and promotions.

The majority of Red Bull’s design and testing work takes place at this base, where they have gone on to win six constructors’ titles and seven drivers’ championships.

As part of their induction into the company, Chua and Heng were given a tour of the headquarters, which included a showroom of all of Red Bull’s older cars from past seasons. They also saw the reception area, leading to team principal Christian Horner and Newey’s offices, which displays all 413 trophies won since their inception in 2004.

But the highlight, Chua said, was getting an exclusive factory tour during their first week. Due to the ongoing development works done on the cars, access does not come by easily.

Heng’s first week saw her working on planning for Red Bull Showrun, a showcase for Red Bull Racing to demonstrate the power of 2011’s RB7 across the world.

The week also culminated with the Spanish Grand Prix, where Verstappen

clinched his 61st career win,

the seventh of the season.

Heng, who watched the race with Chua at their apartment, said: “We attended an in-person race debrief by Horner after the race.

“It goes beyond what he usually tells the media so we felt like we were clued in on some exclusive information.”

Meanwhile, Chua has been helping the hospitality team with the distribution of tickets and she is also responsible for researching and proposing ticket-packaging designs for hospitality partners.

Driven by their experience in Milton Keynes, both interns want to prove they have what it takes to nail down a full-time opportunity in future.

Chua said: “I don’t want this to be the end or the peak of my time at Red Bull.

“Speaking to the people here, I get the sense that there are definitely doors of opportunities and by the end of this internship, I hope to knock on some of them.”