An Interview with…

Matilde Silva

Why are you interested in Formula 1? - It is hard to say how it started but my interest really came from my dad. He's always had a love of motorsport, and I remember going to street rallies when I was younger, and my cousin used to compete on motorbikes just at little village competitions. Recently, just a couple of years ago, I started watching it and my love for the sport came naturally. I was going to study business before, but then I started getting into formula 1 and I have always really liked physics and maths so it was a natural change for me go down that route into engineering.

Could you tell us a bit about what Formula 1 in Schools is and how you got involved? It is an international competition in which groups of three to six students take part and there are lots of different aspects that go into it. There's the engineering side of things but also the enterprise side where we have to create our team logo, manage social media and marketing, as well as contacting sponsors and managing our finances. It’s quite an expensive competition to take part in, especially given the fact that we have to be able to manufacture a whole car, and thus makes contacting sponsors and working with industry professionals a major component. And then there's the whole engineering side where we have to design the car following the regulations which we get from the competition. We built a car on CAD and then we have to test it. From that, we redesign and keep doing different iterations to improve the car.

What have you learned from contacting companies as part of your involvement in F1 in Schools? - Obviously, it is quite a lot to ask for companies to invest in our project because it is an expensive competition, but also because, given that we are students, it's quite hard for them to get a return on investment. I’ve learned that you have to be quite charismatic and really consider what incentives sponsors get from us. Another thing is that we're quite big on sustainability, both environmentally and also into the local community. So we tried to partner with firms that mirror these values.

How did you how did you balance F1 in Schools with all of your studies and extracurriculars? - I have had to be very organised! There is a lot of project management that needs to be done in terms in hitting deadlines and major milestones as well as staying on top of the quality assurance side of things, making sure everything was up to our standards.

Are you looking to work in F1 in the future? - Yes - that's that's the plan! I'm not 100% sure what type of engineering I want to do straightaway. There are so many different aspects of an F1 team that you can get involved in: mechanical engineering, aeronautical engineering, electrical engineering, as well as stress testing and so much more!

What do you think was the hardest part of the whole process of competing in F1 in Schools? - I think the logistical issues of, firstly, how we're going to get enough money to actually be able to design the whole car and, secondly, how are we going to manufacture it? Our team was really good on the whole theoretical side, but actually getting sponsors was really tricky. There were a lot of rejections from companies so we really had to keep consistent and not quit.

Would you have any particular advice for people going into networking events? - Honestly, the first step is the hardest but you just need to put yourself out there. I started doing a couple of networking events with Girls on Track and an everyone was after overcoming the initial fear, you realise that everyone is absolutely so lovely and they honestly do want to help, otherwise they wouldn’t be there! Another thing is just be confident in your own skills because if you want something so much then you're always going to be interested in learning more. I think it's all about having that openness to be honest and be curious.

Who is your biggest inspiration? - I would say Hannah Schmitz - she is the Principle Strategy Engineer at Red Bull Racing. She is essentially in charge of strategy and she's incredible in her ability to deal with pressure. Also, I find that she is a brilliant female role model in such a male dominated industry. She's definitely been an inspiration to me.

Tell us about your Arkwright Scholarship - The Arkwright Engineering Scholarship puts you with a company or a university and I have been sponsored by the University of Sheffield. What the scholarship offers are many different ‘connect’ days which allow you to go into different organisations and companies and interact with lots of like-minded individuals. For example, McLaren F1 Racing is one of the sponsors.

A deep dive into…

Franco’s effect on Spain and its’ economy 

Spain, 1939, the end of the Spanish Civil War, and the right-winged nationalist forces led by Francisco Franco have emerged as victors. With support from both Fascist Italy and Mussolini and Nazi Germany with Hitler, Franco went on to rule Spain for 36 years, until his death in 1975.

The economic instability continued until the September of 1953, when the Pact of Madrid was signed between the USA and Spain. This pact meant that Spain and Franco received substantial economic aid from the Eisenhower government, and the USA could have military bases on Spanish soil. With Spain receiving more than $1 billion USD in US loans, Franco began to liberalise the economy, the economy finally began to recover, starting the Spanish Miracle period.

The Spanish miracle was a period between 1959 to 1974, where the country experienced an average GDP growth rate of 6.5%. Although, as with all good things, this came to an end with an international oil crisis in 1970, this period of growth gave Spain an opportunity for major development and economic growth. Whilst Spain did experience a miracle during this time, the growth was fuelled by broader global economic trends and alliances formed after the war and post-war recovery periods across these alliances. Additionally, during this time Spain experienced an approximated 40% increase in visitors, fuelling the tourism sector which still remains a key part of the economy to this day.

Franco’s actions can be traced influencing right through to today’s economy in Spain. For example, Spain has high job insecurity, especially for the younger generation, as well as comparably weak workers unions compared to other European countries. This can be sourced back to Franco’s ban on independent labour unions, which led to weaker bargaining power and power in general to workers. This is argued to be one of the main issues within the Spanish economy nowadays, showing how traces of Franco is still found today.

As well as this, Franco’s dictatorship led to a late arrival of Spain in the European Union, in 1986, compared to the 6 founding countries* in 1952. This later European integration helped to fuel a housing bubble, which notoriously burst in the 2008 crash, which took a significant impact on Spain, particularly public debt, which led them to be part of the group of 4 countries**, who struggled notably with the crash, and for Spain, the crash had a significant impact on their unemployment, particularly youth, which still affects the economy to this day.

Therefore, whilst Spain has progressed significantly from its’ days under Franco, parts of his regime still linger within the country, particularly in its economy and labour market.​

*Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Federal Germany, France and Italy

** Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain

• Katie Daly

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That is all for this issue, remember to share Girl Economics with anyone you think would enjoy reading it! See you in the next issue,

Erin McGurk