When U-High’s Aeros Racing team was founded in the 2021-22 school year, the members dreamed of one day competing in the world finals — a day that could only arrive with dedication and hard work. Last month, that day arrived.

Aeros Racing was the only team to represent the United States at the Aramco Formula 1 in Schools World Finals 2024 in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Nov. 21-26, placing 13th overall with the 10th fastest model car. 

Around half the score at the competition is for engineering, project management and marketing portfolios, with car speed and reaction racing, and pit display and verbal presentation worth about 25% each. The students who attended were seniors Ayush Mishra, Alexander Blander, Jashan Gill, Ketan Kandula, Raza Zaidi; junior Aran Malhotra; sophomore Taara Sajdeh; and ninth grader Zain Zaidi. The team’s parent adviser, Tanya Gill, and other team members’ parents also traveled with the team. 

In addition to placing 13th, the team was nominated for awards for verbal presentation, innovative thinking and FIA women in motorsports. Aran was one of 10 students selected for the Komatsu-Williams Engineering Academy.

Ayush, the team leader, and Raza, the resource manager, founded Aeros Racing as ninth graders. Ayush felt the team’s placement at Worlds truly represented the extensive work they dedicated to the team.  

“We were able to, for the past four years, stick with it, to keep trying, stay persistent and constantly improve, constantly striving to be better,” Ayush said. “To see that reflected in our placement, it’s a really good feeling. It’s really satisfying, and it’s just a great culmination of all our hard work and all the time we put into it.”

Raza is proud of how they built up the team’s infrastructure, found sponsors and partners, overcame obstacles and succeeded in previous competitions.

“From the very beginning, meeting on Zoom during COVID and not being able to build a car, to being 13th, and beating two former world champions — that was an incredible feeling,” Raza said.

Acquiring the funds to attend the competition and perform well required a lot of preparation. While the students’ families paid for transportation, the team raised around $26,000 for registration, their pit display, their car, marketing, portfolio printing and more. They worked with Lab’s alumni relations and development staff and did independent outreach to find sponsors.

The team’s efforts paid off with a rewarding experience in addition to the competition, including go- karting, ATVing, exploring the city and connecting with teams from around the world. 

Taara, the enterprise manager, described the environment as truly special.

“It was quite intimidating at first because you know that you’re with the best of the best worldwide,” Taara said. “But just getting to meet literally hundreds of people that are all interested in the same things that you are, that are all driven by the same passion and love for Formula One.” 

While the whole team was nominated for the FIA women in motorsports award, it was directed toward Taara, the team’s only girl on the trip, who has been inspired to encourage more women to be excited about motor sports. 

While handling finances, management, presentations and interviews went well, the team’s car was the 10th fastest in the world, with their best race time being an impressive 1.107 seconds. Between Nationals and Worlds, they altered their car design through four different prototypes.

Jashan, the lead engineer, worked a lot on the research and testing of the car, and his favorite element is its front wing design. 

“I think it looks pretty cool, but it’s also very functional in terms of actually controlling airflow,” Jashan said, “and I think it’s one of the main reasons that we’ve managed to get such a fast car.”

Most members of the team were initially interested in joining F1 in Schools because of their interest in Formula One racing. After the Saudi Arabia competition, these U-High students got to attend the F1 Qatar Grand Prix in Doha Nov. 28-Dec. 1. They participated in an exclusive pit lane walk, met some of the drivers and toured the Kick Sauber Garage, a reward for one of their nominations. 

“I think the whole element of trying to improve every aspect of the car and perfect that design, and then to see it when we toured the Kick Sauber Garage,” Ayush said, “seeing those engineers doing the same and making these small tweaks to begin millisecond improvements — it wasn’t F1 in schools, it was actual F1.”

This story was originally published on U-High Midway on December 11, 2024.