Maria: From Formula Student to McLaren.
Maria graduated from Queen Mary in 2024 with a MEng in Mechanical Engineering and is now a Graduate Engineer at McLaren Automotive Ltd. She shares some highlights of her time at university, including Formula Student competitions and her placement at Jaguar Land Rover.
"At McLaren Automotive Ltd, I work to support a wide range of projects, most recently supporting test and development for the W1."
A strong foundation
"My time at Queen Mary provided me with a strong technical foundation, hands-on project experience, and a problem-solving mindset, all of which have been invaluable in my career at McLaren Automotive.
The diverse range of modules, from Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Systems Engineering, gave me a deep understanding of core engineering principles, and Materials in Design enhanced my ability to analyse and optimise performance-critical components."
Academic excellence and a supportive community
"The best thing about Queen Mary was its combination of academic excellence and a supportive community. Lecturers and professionals who were always approachable and interested in sharing their work, really helped me to pursue projects that interested me, from composite analysis of natural fibres, to the heat flow around a battery at high loads.
The strong industry connections ensured that I was often given exposure to various companies and career possibilities.
Queen Mary provided a platform to build networks and meaningful relationships with educators and fellow students that has cotinued past the end of my degree."
Real work experience
"My industrial placement at Jaguar Land Rover provided me with real-world exposure to vehicle efficiency and testing. The combination of technical education, practical experience, and teamwork at Queen Mary gave me the confidence and skills to thrive in a fast-paced, innovation-driven environment like McLaren.
During my time at Jaguar Land Rover, I developed a 0D thermal modelling toolset to establish early target setting for future projects. This helped me learn and develop a skillset in MATLAB and SIMULINK and produce a modular approach based on first principles of thermodynamics. It was presented to superiors and adopted to be used as part of a larger model, which was incredibly rewarding, as the project required lots of self-learning and perseverance, but allowed me to leave a lasting mark during my placement year."
The Formula Student Team
"One of my favourite memories was competing with Queen Mary’s Formula Student team at Silverstone. Being a member since my first year, a key highlight was making it to Silverstone 2023 with the first car in 4 years! Even better was supporting the start of the EV team, where our team achieved 8th place overall, marking Queen Mary’s best-ever result in the competition. Seeing our hard work materialise into a functioning car, overcoming engineering challenges, and presenting our designs to industry professionals was an incredibly rewarding experience.
Engaging in Formula Student helped me to bridge theory and practice, developing expertise in vehicle dynamics, lap time simulation, and EV powertrain integration.
The relationships I made within the team have now turned into lifelong friendships, through hours spent refining simulations, debugging powertrain issues, and making final details to presentations. Formula Student is definitely something I would recommend to anyone who would like to get some practical experience in engineering, finance or business!"