Paddy Lowe – Keynote Speaker

Paddy Lowe is one of the most successful engineers and technical directors in Formula 1history, amassing no fewer than 158 Grand Prix wins and 12 World Championship titles during a stellar career with the Williams, McLaren and Mercedes teams. He is widely regarded as one of the foremost engineering and team leaders in the sport’s recent history.

During his award winning career he has worked with many of the sport’s leading stars including Niki Lauda, Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen and Fernando Alonso.

As Technical Director of Mercedes he oversaw 53 Grand Prix victories for seven times World Champion Lewis Hamilton, also working with 2016 World Champion Nico Rosberg. Beyond Formula One Paddy has founded the UK’s first synthetic fuel company, Zero Petroleum. In 2021 his work with the Royal Air Force on Project Martin led to the world’s first flight powered entirely by synthetic fuel. This was produced by extracting hydrogen from water and carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide.

After graduating from Cambridge University in 1984 Paddy worked as a control systems engineer before joining Williams Grand Prix Engineering where he helped deliver a series of technically innovative and championship winning cars. This included pioneering the development of Active Suspension and Traction Control systems – technologies which were ground breaking and helped Williams become a dominant force at the time.

In 1993 he moved to McLaren, becoming Technical Director by 2005. Over a twenty year period he achieved multiple championship successes, confirming him as one of the sport’s most innovative engineers. This includes the development of systems including brake steer, integrated data analysis and simulator programmes, and seamless gear shifts.

Later, as Executive Director and Board Member for the Mercedes F1 team he oversaw the team’s quality transformation between 2013 and 2015. By combining industry leading quality and reliability with best in class performance, Paddy was one of the key architects of Mercedes subsequent dominance.

After returning to Williams as Chief Technical Officer in 2017, Paddy developed a strong interest in helping the sport deliver its environmental sustainability targets. This led him to establish Zero Petroleum in 2020, five years before Formula 1 plans to abandon its reliance on fossil fuels and switch to synthetic fuels based on carbon capture technology.

As a proven technical innovator and leader in the field of high performance engineering, Paddy is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. His achievements in Formula 1 have led to him twice winning the Technical Director of the Year Award and the Sir Jackie Stewart Trophy, while has designs have won the Racing Car of the Year Award on 10 occasions.