We are passionate about allowing women to drive their own destiny. We are dedicated to making our industry more inclusive. As a team, we open doors and keep them open. Meet Louise Turner, BWT Alpine F1 Team Inspector.

What are you responsible for in your job? What does that involve, what do you do, who with?
"Myself, and a team of about 14 highly talented people, check most parts of the car from internal screws, brackets and fixings through to exhausts, steering wheel, brakes and the big body parts people see on the TV such as the cockpit, sidepods, engine cover and wings.

We look over and check approximately 90% of all of the car except from the engine to ensure every part is as per the original design and fits together as it should.

We check things such as dimensions, thicknesses, hole dimensions by using various methods and high precision machines like ‘CCM’ (Co-ordinate Machining Machines), which measure very small micro-meters of tolerance (around 2 microns, which is a particle of smoke) and ‘Laser Scanners’. These can measure up to a third of a diameter of a human hair, so we work to a very microscopic level. These basically reverse engineer a component so we can compare it against the CAD (Computer Aided Design) model of the part itself.

We also Laser Scan the whole car, the driver in situ and even the driver’s helmet.

Other high-tech kit is used such as ‘Vision Machines’ whereby we can check the teeth pitch on the gears used in the gearbox for example.

We even have a Laser gun that measures that actual atomic structure of metallic components so we can see if a metal is what it supposed to be and what it’s actually made up of. "

Describe a typical day in your job?
"The department utilises a ’Work to list’ that outlines the priority of parts we need to work on. I will discuss with my manager which particular part(s) of the car need to be worked on and go through the drawing(s) of the part checking its dimensions, then proceed onto scanning it where I will create a data model which I will compare against the designer’s original CAD model to see how it fits. I will then pass it onto its next operation, which could be fitting directly onto the car, built into sub-assembly or sent to be painted, further manufacturing or finishing etc.

During our busiest time we will process approximately 20,000 parts at our peak. The rest of the season we’re checking and giving the thumbs up to around approximately 3,000 parts each week, which will be parts for the next race, upcoming races and development parts: it’s never boring or the same."

How did you get the job? What is your background and why did you take this job?
"I grew up watching Formula One with my dad on the TV and went to my first motorsport event at Silverstone to watch Motorbike racing when I was around five years old. A couple of years later and lots of motorbike races later I went to see Touring Cars and fell in love with four wheels rather than two. After that I decided I wanted to get involved and work in motor-racing and aimed to get into the pinnacle of racing; Formula One.

After my GCSE’s I went to college and studied four years in Design (CAD), gaining my National and Higher National Diploma then went to University and studied Engineering and obtained my Honours Degree. I started my three-year graduation job at an Engineering company in Tamworth and gained further experience in various engineering and motorsport companies before gaining vast experience and a stepping stone at Prodrive in Banbury. Here I worked on the rally and GT Championships being trackside and working in the pit-lane before seeing a vacancy at Alpine back in 2016 (previously Renault F1 Team). I applied, kept everything crossed and had one of the best phone calls a few days later offering me the job, which I took without any hesitation."

What is your most memorable moment?
"About a month after I started, I got permission to show my mum and dad around the factory. I showed them all the main manufacturing processes, the machine shop, composites and clean room, and then brought them round to the race bays and saw the expression on my dad’s face when he saw some of the cars lined up in them was priceless. We’d watched a few documentaries together when I was a kid about when Alpine was known as Benetton F1 Team and I said to him “I really would love to work there”; and we achieved that. The look on his face when he saw in real-life what we had seen in those programmes was the best!"

And the worst part of your job…?
"If we have any sort of incident or the car breaks down on track, it’s the worse feeling. All the time and effort everybody in the factory and trackside have put into getting the car and all its various components together, it’s absolutely gut-wrenching."

The best part of your job then?
"The euphoria of getting on the podium and especially our first P1 with Esteban last year at Hungary (2021). After all of the hard work everyone does it was a very proud moment to say we (all) put a car on the top step of an F1 podium.

I am incredibly proud to be part of this team."

What do you do after work? How do you unwind?
"My main passion since I was little (alongside F1) has been tennis and I play as much as I can for my local club (badly). I also love to play the piano/ keyboard (again badly)."

What do you do before going to sleep?
"Really naughty; social media. I check Instagram and TikTok etc. oops!

Plan B… If you weren’t doing your job, what would you have done instead?
I think that I would be a Primary School Teacher."