A team of four Transition Year students from St. Muredach’s College, Ballina, Co. Mayo, have won third prize and a place on the podium in the world finals of this year’s ‘F1 in Schools’ competition which took place alongside the Formula One Grand Prix in Singapore. The team also won the top award for best pit display.

Having fended off competition from 20 million second-level students representing more than 40 countries, Aaron Hannon (16), Robert Grimes (17), Paul Flynn (16) and Enda Flanagan (17) – known as Team AIB Racing – were one of three teams from Ireland competing against over 130 international teams in the competition final that saw the world’s brightest and best young engineers, innovators and executives design, construct and race their own miniature Formula One car.

Partly made with a 3D printer, the team’s miniature car is an exact 1:20 scale replica of a real F1 car and, with the help of compressed-air canisters, can reach speeds of over 100 km/hr down a purposely-built 20-metre track.

Judged on performance, engineering, marketing and social media campaigns and their presentation skills, the ‘F1 in Schools’ competition was first introduced in the UK in 1999 and was designed to encourage students towards careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).