Young female race engineer is Williams/Autosport winner

Elizabeth Thompson has become the inaugural winner of the Autosport Williams Engineer of the Future award. Thompson, who is currently studying for a Masters in Engineering Science at Oxford, wins a two-year contract to work for Williams. She will start her job once her degree course is completed in 2016, with her professional progress overseen by Williams chief technical officer Pat Symonds.

Thompson emerged from a five-candidate short list, drawn from a list of students recommended by the leading British universities for engineering – Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, Loughborough, Bath, Southampton, Oxford Brookes and Queens University Belfast – to win the award.

During an intensive two-day evaluation at Williams, which including written tests, group tasks and an in-depth interview process, Thompson convinced the panel of judges that she was the best candidate. The judging panel comprised Symonds, former Jaguar F1 team principal Tony Purnell, company HR director Nicola Slater and Autosport magazine editor Edd Straw.

"It was just such a great experience," said Thompson. "The exercises that we get to do were really interesting and fun."

Williams added: "This is the first time that we've done this award and it's really exciting that Elizabeth has won it. To have a female winner is fantastic.

"Pat is one of the true icons, a real legend, and Elizabeth will learn so much. It was a very difficult process for them, really tough testing, and you shouldn't underestimate it."

Originally on Autosport.com