Ask the team partner!

It’s 6 July 2014, and the British Grand Prix is set to begin in 90 minutes on the legendary Silver­stone Circuit. Mark Wilson, Automotive/Rail Busi­ness Devel­op­ment Manager at ebm-papst Auto­mo­tive & Drives (UK), is there to watch the race with two customers. And of course he’s espe­cially inter­ested in how ebm-papst’s partner, the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team, will perform because of his pre-season work supporting the devel­op­ment of on-car cooling solu­tions such as the side pod and roll hoop fans.

Wilson’s customer Alan Phillips was also very pleased to view the racer close up.

Just as the three arrive in the team’s Paddock Club suite, Wilson’s smart­phone beeps and displays a text message from his managing director, Gareth Jones: “Please call me imme­di­ately”. Wilson returns the call and is told by Jones to “imme­di­ately report to the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS garage as they urgently need your tech­nical advice.” Wilson smiles, thinking the instruc­tion is a joke – until he and his guests are actu­ally escorted into the garage. He thinks to himself, “Wow, this is really happening!”

Fast-track tech­nical discus­sion

In the garage, Wilson’s customers are taken on a guided tour whilst he is imme­di­ately surrounded by a group of engi­neers led by the team’s Chief Track Engi­neer Simon Cole; they have a lot of tech­nical ques­tions about the cooling chal­lenge. In Formula One that’s nothing unusual; they work until the last second on refine­ments to the cars. Having Mark Wilson, an auto­mo­tive fan specialist, avail­able on this day turns out to be a real stroke of luck for MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS. Though still some­what stunned by the speed of events, he manages to provide quick and pointed advice – while stealing a few glances at the two awe-inspiring Silver Arrows racing cars. Wilson suggests a few possible solu­tions.

MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS took first place at Silver­stone.

Silence follows as the engi­neers think things over, then they appear satis­fied. “Do you have another quarter of an hour?” asks one of them and asks Wilson to come with him to the Engi­neering trucks behind the garage. Wilson’s customers are thrilled to have a few more minutes to check out the activity in the garage whilst he is gone.

Ready for take-off

As the elec­tric door to the engi­neering office opens, Wilson has to catch his breath. The place looks like Mission Control at NASA. But that’s not all. Sitting there at the table where Wilson takes a seat are Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg! The two MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS stars are making final prepa­ra­tions for the race. By now Wilson is asking himself, “Am I dreaming?” He discusses his proposed solu­tions with the engi­neers – all the while feeling as if he’s in a film. After­wards, the engi­neers get up to go and make more adjust­ments to the car, and Wilson returns to the real world of the hospi­tality suite.

The thank you mail from MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS arrives promptly before the race, leaving Wilson with a proud grin that lasts until well after he is seated in the spec­tator area. All that makes following the race all the more exciting. And it’s a successful day for the team as well, with Lewis Hamilton winning his home Grand Prix. For a long time, Mark Wilson will remember how he did his part to help the team on course to its first ever FIA Formula One World Construc­tors’ Cham­pi­onship title as well as the Drivers’ Cham­pi­onship.