F1 engineer on dream job which takes him across the world

Craig Pearson's job has seen him travel all over the world - as much as 20 times a year with his job working in motorsport series F1 as an electronics engineer for the HAAS F1 team.

And now, the former Warrington worker, will be joining the governing body of F1 and other motorsports – the FIA as their new electronics engineer.

The electronics engineer for the FIA is someone who will check the electrics of all the cars on the grid, ensuring they meet standards and adhere to the rules.

It’s a tough job and means Craig will still be away from his new home in Radcliffe, to attend races around the world.

He said: “I’m looking forward to working with all 10 teams as opposed to just one.

“It was difficult for my family life as we are away for six months from home over the year, and though I’ll still be away, I won’t have to stay as long as I normally do.

“I’ll definitely miss working with Haas.”

When not travelling the world, Craig is watching Bolton Wanderers play, and recently showed right-back Conor Bradley around the garage at the Spanish Grand Prix.

He said: “I don’t get to watch the games as much now, but I follow it everywhere I go.

“I got to show Conor around the garage and told him about what I do.

“It was pleasant, and he was interested, and he told me he got into F1 after watching Drive To Survive on Netflix.

“I have met the likes of Will Smith, Brad Pitt and Conor McGregor, but I was the happiest meeting a Wanderers player.

“I grew up supporting the team, so I have to follow them.”

Craig studied in Farnworth, Bolton and then went on to UCLAN for motorsport engineering before getting his big break at the Williams F1 team.

He said: “My dad was a lover of motorsport, and I often went with him to watch races usually with motorcycles.

“I was in the paddock watching people work and I thought, I want to do something like that, so I decided when I was 14, I was going to work in motorsport.”

After graduating, Craig worked for TCS Motorsport in Culcheth, then worked as an F3 data engineer before his move into every engineer’s dream at F1 as a control systems technician.

He said: “This was a big break that everybody needs, it was a little bit of luck involved too.

“Haas then asked if I wanted to lead their electronics team and now, I feel like it’s the right time to move on as things have started to stabilise so it will be good for someone new to introduce new ideas.”

“We go to a lot of countries, you get to see a lot of the world that a lot of people have to pay for, so that is a privilege.

“We get to eat at nice restaurants around the world, that’s probably the best thing.

“One minute you’re sat at home and the next you’re in Singapore.”

As part of his new role, Craig will look at data analysis of the F1 cars, inspecting them as well as developing the marshalling system, which presents the flags to the drivers.

He said: “I’m very interested in working with the FIA, where I get to work on the technical regulations, as the cars have strict set of rules they are built under and one of my roles is to ensure they conform to that.

“The cars have an unbelievable amount of electronics on them, so policing the rules become quite a big task.

Craig has trained with the Inter Miami football team while working at Haas and said his favourite place is Austria for the atmosphere, the food and the cycling.

The engineer also praised the University of Bolton for the National Centre of Motorsport Engineering.

He said: “I know they do similar things to UCLAN now and run actual race cars which gives you the hands-on experience that gave me a proportion in my career.

“And Bolton has never made me feel like I could not achieve what I was getting to.

“I want people to understand that if you want to do something, it’s in your own hands to a certain extent.

“When people ask me how I did this, I say I just researched what I needed and had the background to get my lucky break.”