This is a reflection on two visits to McLaren in January and April of this year. What was I doing? During both I was there to help with the pre-season testing of the pit crew. There were several different tests performed which are summarised in the figure below.
In the break between testing I got to observe a pit stop practice and we were given a tour of the McLaren Technology Centre by Sergio Stelitano, the team performance coach.
So what did I learn during this experience?
During the first testing session I was anxious as I was unfamiliar with the tests (Eagle et al., 2007) and the team from Roehampton I was working with were eager to make a good impression. As the day went on and I got speaking to the staff and pit stop crew I learned a lot about the how the organisation operates. One thing is certain, if it can be done quicker it will. This applied to all areas of their work, with times of testing often being moved forward to eliminate unnecessary breaks. I admired the way each employee, no matter what department they were working in, all strived towards the same goal: to make the fastest car possible. This wasn’t always positive as many of the pit crew has sustained injuries due to the car hitting them while trying to get back on the track as quick as possible. The atmosphere was relaxed and Sergio expressed how when he’s away at races McLaren always helps take care of anything his family may need in his absence (Dębicki, 2008). This was another aspect I respected about the running of the organisation, as the race schedule is demanding so it was nice to see they took that into consideration.
Through this experience I have gained further insight into the environment I would like to work in. Although I enjoyed some things about how McLaren operates, it further emphasized to me that my desire is not to work in a competitive setting that focuses on high performance. There seemed to be some hostility between those high up in power and the rest of the organisation, eluding to the fact that it is run more as a business than a sport sometimes which seemed challenging.
Below is a video developed by McLaren featuring some of the testing we were doing when we were there.