THE man who helped Lewis Hamilton win his third Formula One world title will be revealing some of the secrets of the champion's race-winning car when he visits Teesside next month.

Dr Andrew Shovlin, the chief race engineer of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team, will be in the region as the guest of the Cleveland Institution of Engineers.

Shovlin, who studied mechanical engineering at Leeds University before moving into the high octane world of motorsport, will be giving a lecture about the science of Formula One.

Members are looking forward to a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into the fast moving world of motor racing and the work required to create a winning car.

Although Mercedes is a German company, its Formula One team is based in Brackley, 70 miles northwest of London.

The Mercedes factory covers an area of 60,000 square metres and the team employs more than 700 people, working five shifts around the clock on design, development and manufacturing.

The workshops are only closed on 15 days of the year - the traditional F1 two-week summer break and Christmas Day.

Born in Liverpool, Shovlin’s family moved to the North-East when he was a teenager and he attended Conyers School, in Yarm. He graduated from Leeds University's school of mechanical engineering in 1998 with a degree in mechanical engineering and a PhD in vehicle dynamics and control.

While at the university he was an active member of the Formula Student race car project, a competition which challenges university teams to design, build, test and market a small single-seater racing car.

In November 1998, he joined the BAR Honda team as an engineer and worked alongside Jenson Button during the British driver's world championship year in 2009.

Following the team's takeover by Mercedes in 2010 Shovlin worked with seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg and, more recently, Lewis Hamilton.

  • Tickets for the event, which takes place on December 15 at the Princess Alexandra Auditorium, in Yarm School, are available from the CIE's website on a first-come-first-served basis.
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