Dylan Bettencourt
Samantha Nyikadzino has joined the Mercedes Formula 1 team as a design engineer.
The Zimbabwean national completed a degree in electrical engineering at the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo and an electrical engineering degree at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. She also recently completed a third degree in applied mathematics and computer science at the University of South Africa.
She joins Shau Mafuna as the second African to join the engineering team at Mercedes. Mafuna joined as an electronics design engineer earlier this year.
The 26-year-old Nyikadzino began her new job in the elite world of motorsport on 12 September and said she was “geeked” at the opportunity.
She claims she is a big Star Wars and Disney fan and often looks to make “dad-jokes” with her friends and family.
“Today was an awesome day. I started as a design engineer for @MercedesAMGF1 and I’m pretty geeked!” Nyikadzino wrote on Twitter.
“Supporting a team from home and then ending up as one of their design engineers is something I can’t find the words to correctly express but I’m excited about this new adventure.”
Last year Mercedes F1 team announced a partnership with the Association of Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers with the executive being Mara-Tafadzwa Makona from Zimbabwe.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton called on the sport to increase the levels of diversity in the sport.
Image source: @dzinosam
