Mercedes chief Mike Elliot surprises GENIUS 9-year-old F1 fan

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Mercedes chief surprises GENIUS 9-year-old F1 fan

Mercedes CTO Mike Elliot congratulated an aspiring engineer who completed his Maths GCSE at just 9 years old

Jay Winter

Saturday 9 September 2023 21:57

A nine-year-old maths prodigy from the United Kingdom received a surprise call from the Mercedes Formula 1 team after achieving top marks in his maths GCSE.

Harry Clark achieved the highest possible grade on the foundation-level maths exam, a remarkable feat for a student of his age.

In an interview with BBC News, Harry shared his dreams of working for an F1 team or even NASA one day.

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Mercedes chief technical officer Mike Elliott was so impressed by Harry's achievement that he reached out to the budding maths genius to offer invaluable career advice and encouragement.

"We all saw it on the news and saw what he's achieved," he said. "Doing a GSCE in maths at nine is a fantastic achievement.

"To read that you were interested in Formula 1 and potentially becoming an engineer like me, I thought that was brilliant."

Mike Elliot collecting a winners trophy on the podium for Mercedes

At a loss for words

Harry, an ardent Mercedes fan, was completely taken aback by the unexpected call.

Initially lost for words, he asked Mr. Elliott, "How have I got to talk to you? I just come in, not knowing anything, and I'm talking to an F1 engineer – how did this happen?"

The ensuing conversation between the young prodigy and the F1 engineer revolved around career options and the path to achieving Harry's dream of working in F1 for Mercedes when he's older.

While Harry hasn't yet determined which specific area or role within the team intrigues him the most, he expressed that simply being part of a Formula 1 team would be 'amazing'.

Sounds like Harry has already got a foot in the door with one of the biggest teams in motorsport...