What do Formula One (F1) motor racing and Scottish farming have in common?
The answer is Isla Mackenzie, a farmer’s daughter now enjoying life behind the scenes of the Grand Prix racing circuit. She is an engineer working with Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and their back-up teams.
Isla said lessons learned growing up on an Outer Hebrides farm put her in pole position for a career in motorsport.
Isla’s career journey started on her grandad’s dairy farm on Lewis
One of her earliest memories is “tinkering with grandpa” on some broken piece of machinery on the family’s dairy farm on Lewis.
She started off driving a child’s size quad bike and soon graduated to the real thing, along with tractors. At a young age she was whizzing around the fields in a pick-up.
“All farm kids are resilient, hardy and hardworking,” Isla said, adding she considers herself lucky to have such an “outdoorsy” upbringing.
As she got older the tinkering notched up a level to swapping engines around, always with the aim of producing as much power as possible.
Although she eventually went on to study motorsport design engineering in Glasgow, she followed a more traditional pathway to start with.
Only girl in the class
She explained: “Because I was from a farm and knew about animals, I started out doing zoology at Aberdeen but only lasted three months.
“Expectations back then, with me coming from a rural area, were traditional.
“In some ways, it was a great relief to finally say it wasn’t for me.
“I went to the local college to do engineering, which is what my brother had done. I was the only girl in the class and switched in the second year to the motorsport course at Glasgow.”
From Lewis to Lewis Hamilton
While at university, she continued to swap her spanners for high-octane stints behind the steering wheel, racing drift cars.
She secured her first F1 job with Williams in 2017 and worked in the racing team’s research and development department, testing and developing cars and their components.
She then moved to Mercedes High Performance Powertrains, where she tested and developed F1 power units, before joining the main Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team in Brackley, Northamptonshire.
Isla now helps to perfect parts for the cars F1 stars Hamilton and Russell drive at Grand Prix races around the world.
Last year, her dream to be a professional racing driver was followed in a BBC documentary called Fast Track to Glory. It showed her moving through the ranks from karts to single seaters with IMC Motorsports.
There have been plenty of barriers to overcome along the way.
But 30-year-old Isla is convinced the seeds of her drive to succeed were sown back at home on the farm.
That farming background has helped me on difficult days. Grandpa would be in the house to wake us up if we missed getting up for our turn to do the 4am start for the milk run.”
“There is no mollycoddling on a farm,” she said, adding: “Whatever goes wrong you have to get up and get on with the jobs. That farming background has helped me on difficult days.
“Grandpa would be in the house to wake us up if we missed getting up for our turn to do the 4am start for the milk run.”
Isla shares her low moments
Isla is the first to admit there are occasions when hard work and determination simply aren’t enough.
She recently took her foot off the throttle long enough to be interviewed for the Farmstrong Scotland podcast Blether Together.
In it, she confides in Sarah Stephen, host of the series of interviews in support of the Farmstrong wellbeing movement, where people from the agricultural community share their stories, that worries about the financial side of her dream to race cars have got her feeling down at times.
“I really admire the work Farmstrong is doing and it was a pleasure to speak to Sarah for the podcast,” Isla said.
She added: “I was on holiday with my mum in Anglesey when we did the interview.
“It was during the mandatory two-week summer break that all Formula One teams must observe.
“The whole industry shuts down and there are no work emails or telephone calls.
“When you return, there isn’t all that catching up that most people have after holidays.
“Everything has stopped, so you start refreshed and without a huge backlog to catch up on. I’ve learnt it’s really important to completely disconnect – it’s a huge help for everyone’s mental health.”
Meanwhile, a recent work promotion has given her a new determination and mindset about the money worries that have plagued her driving ambition.
Isla explained: “I’ve recently made a conscious decision to not let the stress of the financial side of racing take over the fun. Money is a huge barrier, but I can’t change it.
“I’ve just got to do my best with the situation I’m in, and not waste time worrying.”
So far from home
When she was racing carts, Isla was often the only woman on the grid and she was one of only two females on her course at university. She was the first woman in her work section at Williams.
Also, being so far from home – over 11 hours by car followed by a two-and-a-half-hour ferry crossing – has, on occasion, left her feeling isolated.
“Any sport brings lows as well as highs and as I have got older I’ve found ways to cope,” she said.
Cornerstones of these coping mechanisms include having a “non-negotiable” seven or eight hours sleep and eating three nutritious meals a day.
I’m no good at football but it helped me meet new people.”
Exercising alone, either walking her two dogs or hitting the gym, were her fitness regime until she put her name down for a charity football match at work.
She added: “I’m no good at football but it helped me meet new people.
“I met some girls who also work at Mercedes, in different departments, that I didn’t know and we’ve become friends. I would definitely say to other people try to find a hobby that’s separate to the industry you work in.”
However busy her day has been, Isla makes a point of writing a “positives list” at the end of it.
She explained: “Every night I pick out 10 positives from the day and write them down.
“It’s a great way of finishing the day thinking about all the good things and nothing negative.”
F1 and farming parallels
Highlighting parallels between F1 and farming, Islas said they were both more of a way of life than straightforward jobs.
And both can be hard to switch off from, she said, adding: “Formula One is a bit of a bubble, like farming. Getting out on the track is forever in my mind, which is very much like a farmer who never stops thinking about their animals or crops.”
As well as a strip of tartan, her helmet is adorned with her motto “just keep going”.
And further highlighting her perseverance, she said: “If I keep knocking on the door it just takes that one person, or brand or business to hear me.”
Isla is keen to get involved in is historic motor racing, such as the one that takes place in Monaco.
3 things Isla does to improve her wellbeing
- Getting a good night’s sleep is “non-negotiable”
- Eating three meals a day and exercising, along with making time to switch off from work
- Keeping positive. Every night, writing down 10 positive things that have happened during the day
What is Farmstrong Scotland?
Farmstrong Scotland is an initiative to help farmers, crofters and their families cope with the ups and downs of farming and crofting by sharing things they can do to look after themselves and the people in their business. It is a peer-to-peer led programme, driven by scientific information and real-life stories.
There are links to its podcast series – Blether Together – at farmstrongscotland.org.uk
The organisation is supported by the Royal Highland & Agricultural Society Of Scotland, Movember Foundation and NFU Mutual Charitable Trust.
Anyone wishing to donate or find out more about supporting Farmstrong can get in touch via hello@farmstrongscotland.org.uk
Meanwhile, the Movember Foundation, which is behind the campaign to get people growing moustaches for a good cause every November, is matching every £1 raised by Farmstrong up to £350,000.
Conversation