M-SPORT MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
M-Sport Member Spotlight
Matthew Lewis
M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 Chassis Engineer Matthew Lewis plays a crucial role within the team, whether he's working on rallies or at the M-Sport campus located at Dovenby Hall Below, we delve into Matt's journey at M-Sport, providing insight into how it all began for him at the company.
How long have you been with M-Sport, and how did you come to work here?
I have been at M-Sport for over two years. I started here the week after the famous Monte-Carlo Rally win in 2022 with Sebastian Loeb, so my first impressions were very positive as I think everyone was on a high after the great result. Safe to say the time has flown by!
Have you always been a chassis engineer?
Not always. I’ve done a good amount of mechanic work before stepping up to be an engineer, first off working with my old karting team as a mechanic on weekends once I turned 17, and I have done this on and off for a good number of years. Then when I was at university I started to work for an F3 team called CF Racing, initially starting as a No.2 mechanic, then onto being a No.1 on the team’s own Dallara F317 car. It’s with this team and car that I then started to become a chassis engineer.
What skills do you need and what’s involved in your role?
Having engineering knowledge is essential, like a good understanding of the vehicle dynamics side, and how certain setup changes on the car affects it in different ways. Also understanding all the systems of the car is pretty vital. These are probably the most technologically advanced rally cars we have ever seen, and so understanding the procedures and data is really important when trying to optimise performance and resolve any potential issues.
You have to have a good understanding of rallying in general. Rallying as a sport is rather different to any other form of motorsport, so knowing how the event works, and the weird rules and regulations is pretty important too to make sure we don’t do anything we shouldn’t…
Lastly being organised is a big thing, which is strange because if you ask anyone who knows me outside of work, they would probably say I am anything but organised! But throughout the rally week, and time between events there are always plenty of things that need to be done. On rallies, we are always getting asked questions from people from departments, drivers or codrivers, or the mechanics, so making sure that we either have the information to hand or be able to easily find it is crucial. Especially during the timed services.
What were you up to before you came here?
I was living down where I grew up, in Wrexham, North Wales, but before then I was down in Oxford for 4 years at university where I studied Motorsport Engineering at Oxford Brookes University. I really enjoyed my time at university and look back at it fondly.
Outside of work, I’ve always done a good amount of racing myself. I started racing karts when I turned 11 and raced frequently until I headed to university. I had good success at regional and British national level winning a few regional championships. Then at the tail end of university, I moved into racing cars, starting with Caterhams, where I did a few races a year with a car me and my dad bought and ran together. Post Covid, through work and friends of friends, I managed to find myself driving some amazing cars, from the F317 car that I was an engineer for, to a Ferrari Challenge race car.
The biggest moment of that part of my career was competing in two rounds of the 2021 GT Cup championship in an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 car, where somehow I managed to put the car on pole on our first-ever weekend, which was beyond surreal. Through this result, I managed to get picked by Aston Martin Racing to become one of their GT Academy Drivers for that year. Unfortunately, due to work commitments and budget, I wasn’t able to continue, and I haven’t really raced since. The aim is to get back to some form of racing for sure, it’s just trying to find the time to do so…
What’s the best thing about your job and what is your most memorable moment?
I’m a very competitive person, so getting a good result is always the best thing about this job. Luckily there have been a few instances like this in my relatively short time here at M-Sport. The first one I can think of was my first ever WRC event running a Fiesta Rally2 for Jari Huttunen in Sardinia 2022. We had great pace and was battling for the win the whole weekend, finishing in 2nd. It was a pretty big leap into that position after only being at the team for 5 months prior to this, but everyone was helpful and made the event run smoothly. When I look back at it now though, I was pretty out of my depth.
Another one is running Craig Breen’s car in Rally Japan 2022 in his last ever rally with us was a cool experience. It was the first time I had worked with a top tier driver, and I learnt so much from that weekend with him. We had Super Rallied earlier in that event after going off the road on the Friday. For the Sunday we had weather reports that rain was due for only the power stage, so with our position, we decided to make the decision to go out on a wet setup with wet tyres, and hope that the rain would come. Luckily it arrived for the penultimate stage, and Craig ended up winning that and the power stage. A good way to end that relationship with him.
There were some good times with Pierre-Louis last year where I was his engineer for a few rallies. And then of course the success we have had with Adrien this year. This year is the first year I have been given a driver to work with for the whole season, and so far, I have really enjoyed my time working with him and Alex. The two podiums we have had after the first 3 rounds have been out of the blue for what I expected at this point of the year. Seeing Adrien cross the line in Sweden to clinch his first-ever WRC podium was a moment that I will remember for a long time. It was a great feeling knowing that I helped that result happen.
Any plans for the future?
I’m really happy with the position I am in at the moment, so just want to keep on bettering myself with what I am doing now. I am still limited with experience so building on that will for sure make me a better and more rounded engineer. And with this, hopefully even more success. We have got the podium milestone done for Adrien, now for the first WRC win. If we were able to do that this year I’d be over the moon. I guess we will just have to wait and see.