Ralph Koyess, a vehicle performance engineer at Renault Sport F1, is a former president of the Concordia chapter of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineers. | Photo: Renault Sport F1 Team
Ralph Koyess, BEng (mech.) 09, found one such path. Today Koyess is a vehicle performance engineer at Renault Sport F1 in Enstone, United Kingdom.
The 29 year-old recently served as a panel judge at the Infiniti Engineering Award contest held in Montreal in August. Koyess, who was the U.K. finalist in an equivalent contest six years ago, took a few moments to talk about the competition, his experience at Concordia and his love of F1.
Can you share a bit about yourself?
Ralph Koyess: “I’m Lebanese-Canadian — I’m Canadian but my family is originally from Lebanon. I was born in Saudi Arabia but I’ve lived all over the world.
I did my bachelors in mechanical engineering at Concordia, and then I did an MSc in motorsports engineering and management at Cranfield University in the U.K., after which I was hired by the Renault Formula One team just over six years ago.
As a Vehicle Performance Engineer, I carry out computer simulations of our F1 cars which allows us to test out new design concepts and to predict a car’s behaviour before a race.”
How did you get involved in F1?
RK: “Formula One has been my dream since I was a kid, so it was always a plan of mine to work in the industry. When I was studying at Concordia, I found out that the best way to get to F1 was to do a master’s degree, and the most reputable degree in the industry was the one that I did at Cranfield.
What really helped me was the fact that my thesis subject was about F1 engine simulations which was very relevant to what I wanted to do and to what I do now.”
The Renault Sport F1 racing car | Photo: Renault Sport F1 Team