Tell us more about your job at Red Bull, Rocky

©Red Bull and F1i

ROCKY ROAD

When we met Rocky in 2008 (top left picture), he told us that he had chosen this job because he liked the idea ‘of seeing immediately whether [his] work had paid off or not on Sundays”. The verdict takes more time in his new position, so the Frenchman had to find new yardsticks.

“It’s harder to know if you’ve done a good job because the results can only be seen later. There’s naturally always room for improvement but positive indicators lie in smooth communication, better organisation efficiency, as well as the seamless sharing of information.

“I was slightly tentative initially because the position is quite different from the very technical job of race engineer. Now I must make sure that all team members feel content and empowered in their work, that the budget is well managed, that all positions are properly filled, that college trainees are developing nicely, etc.”

“I knew I wanted to work in motor racing at the age of 15 after I read a magazine feature on Gérard Ducarouge and the Ketteringham-Hall Mansion with its high ceilings and wooden beams captured my imagination.”

If knowledge transmission is so close to Rocquelin’s heart, it’s also because he had to be patient and resilient and travel a rocky road in order to become a respected figure in the elite club of top F1 engineers.

“I don’t know if we can say I had a career plan, but I had to make a lot of efforts to get my degrees, secure internships, and establish myself in the industry. I knew I wanted to work in motor racing at the age of 15 after reading a magazine feature on [renowned F1 engineer] Gérard Ducarouge. In the piece, you could see the Ketteringham-Hall Mansion with its high ceilings and wooden beams [Colin Chapman’s Team Lotus used the place as its factory].

“So I went on studying aeronautics and engineering at the Grenoble Institute of Technology. These days, it’s impossible to start off as a mechanic and become the new Ron Dennis: you need a very high level of qualifications. I carried out an internship with [racing car builder] Tico Martini in 1991-1992 at Magny-Cours, right next door to Guy Ligier’s factory.

“Then I spent the next three years sending applications to Reynard because they had a training programme for young engineers. At first, that did not really work out… until Adrian [Reynard] got interested in the simulation software I had designed as part of my end-of-studies project and hired me. That was the ideal place to learn the ropes, as I could do a bit of everything while jobs in F1 are very specialised.”

A natural mentor, Rocquelin sometimes meets engineering students and even sponsor some of them within the Formula Student programme. Who said Formula One was filled with selfish individuals?