Need for speed among challenges that inspired Mercedes Formula 1 boss from university to top of the podium
From the streets of Coventry to the most famous race circuits in the world, via an oil rig in the middle of the North Sea...Rob Thomas has seen it all.
As he stood looking at the crashing waves 100 miles out to sea, then 22-year-old Rob never envisaged that years later he’d be helping to deliver a seventh straight Drivers’ Championship for the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
Car industry in his blood
But that is precisely where his journey – and desire for new challenges - took him. Born to a father working in the bustling car industry of Coventry, it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that Rob ended up working in motorsport where he is now Chief Operating Officer of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 outfit. However, there were certainly some twists and turns along the way – made possible by the breadth of engineering knowledge he gained during his time at Coventry University.
He said: “Coventry was the centre of the car industry back then and my dad worked at Jaguar so an apprenticeship was the normal path to follow. So, I left school at 16 and really enjoyed learning on the job.
“I did two years of the apprenticeship and then had the chance of doing a degree at Coventry University which has always had a good reputation for engineering. I wanted to do something quite broad that touched on lots of different areas.”
Swapping the city for a life at sea
Rob spent three years at his hometown university before graduating in 1990 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering – a course that gave him his first opportunity to look further afield than Coventry’s Motor City.
“When I graduated my pathway was to go to Jaguar but at 21 years old I was keen to do something else,” he said. “The degree gave me experience in lots of different things, so I decided to leave Jaguar and joined an oil business in Aberdeen, and from there it was on to Shell in Holland. I wouldn’t have got to that point without the breadth of engineering knowledge that I had gained at Coventry University.
“That strong background even helped me when working on oil rigs in the middle of the ocean. Shell trained me for a year in all aspects of drilling and when you went to the rig you were responsible for quite a lot of people at quite a young age, doing 12 hours on, 12 hours off...I loved the experience, the teamwork, the camaraderie.
“When you are 100 miles out in the North Sea if something needs to be done, you get it done - and you learn how to get on with anybody. After five years I was due to go to Nigeria or Oman which sounded really interesting but for family reasons I decided to return to the UK and joined Rover where again the abilities and breadth of knowledge from the engineering degree was very useful.”
Life in Formula 1 begins
Upon his return to the UK and dry land, Rob’s expertise in engineering saw him land Project Manager roles with Rover-BMW and later various operational roles at two different aerospace companies, before a phone call out of the blue steered him in the direction of starting grids and 200mph racing cars.
The 56-year-old said: “I got a phone call asking if I watched Formula 1 – they were looking for someone with a range of experience outside of F1 as the sport has often been a closed business and full of ‘F1 people’. But I stepped into the industry and I’m still here 20 years later.
“You see Formula 1 on the TV with the cars doing these amazing speeds and two-second pit stops...then you go and join the teams which are full of brilliant, dedicated people, but the basics of a good organisation weren’t there [when I first joined]. Helping to build up the organisation, introducing new structures and processes, first on the Power unit side and then ultimately on the chassis side, has been the focus for the last 20 years.
Taking things to the extreme
“One of the key objectives is to take an idea that a particular aerodynamicist may have come up with that delivers lap time and push this through engineering, manufacturing, build and test as quickly as possible, before delivering the next race. The environment is very dynamic, with frequent changes of direction. This requires very agile processes and high levels of accountability for the people who work in the company. It all has to be very fast and innovative, and my knowledge enabled me to take the relevant bits from different industries and apply them in the Formula 1 world.
“It is like the other roles but more extreme and that has been the fun challenge for me. Everything is about lap time and that extra tenth of a second, and every two weeks the world gets to see the results and if it goes well you go to work on Monday morning with a smile on your face and if it hasn’t everyone turns up to work extra hard and go again.”
The top job
Initially running the operational team behind the Mercedes power train – or engine to the uninitiated – the dad of two’s work caught the eye once more and in 2010 he earned promotion to the role of Chief Operating Officer of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 team.
Describing his role in layman’s terms as “making sure we manufacture, build and
test a car that will be capable of winning races and championships”, Rob has certainly earned his place on the podium having helped the team claim a historic eight consecutive Constructors’ Championships and seven consecutive Drivers’ titles.
'The challenge is what interests me, not the job or position'
So what has Rob learned from his variety of roles since donning his Coventry University graduation gown 35 years ago?
“I am very fortunate to be in a job that is a sport and it grabs everyone you know. Your whole family wants to know the results to see how you’ve got on,” he said.
“The challenge has always been what has interested me, not chasing the job or position. Look for something that is interesting to you and something you will enjoy, and go into that with lots of passion and commitment, as well as working with people you enjoy working alongside.
“In my experience if you are lucky enough to find a role that covers these points the rest takes care of itself.”
Find out more about studying Mechanical Engineering at Coventry University.
