Holly Beacroft (formerly Chapman) studied Automotive Engineering at Loughborough from 2009-2014. Holly met her fiancée at Loughborough and her time at the University played a huge part in shaping her life.
She went on to work for Mercedes AMG HPP – the leading Formula 1 Power Unit manufacturer.
She worked on the race team for five years and in that time, Holly became only the eighth woman in F1 history to accept the Constructors’ Trophy when representing the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team after Valtteri Bottas won the race in Austria in 2020. At the time, her role was Trackside Power Unit Engineer. It was a huge moment for Holly just a few years after completing her studies.
Holly started out as a Graduate Engineer and since then has worked as a Product Confirmation Engineer, Durability Engineer, VTT Engineer, and most recently as a Race Engineer for the team.
Reflecting on her F1 journey, Holly said:
“I wanted to do something challenging which is why I set my sights on F1. I never thought I'd get there, much less be collecting a Constructors’ Trophy in Austria only eight years after I was there with LUMotorsport (the Formula Student team).
“I don't believe I would have got so far if I hadn't been to Loughborough. It was a quite surreal, and a great honour, that all my efforts at Loughborough had resulted in that moment.”
Holly is currently on maternity leave. Last summer Holly became a mother for the first time to baby Rupert – and just weeks later was sadly diagnosed with an incurable brain cancer. Holly has received an outpouring of support from across F1, and she is supporting the campaign for Brain Cancer Justice.
She added:
“I wanted to raise awareness after I found out how indiscriminate Brain Cancer is and how the treatments (and outcomes) haven't changed in decades. So far, I've shared my story for their social media campaign to gather signatures for their Government Petition. For now, my priority is on spending time with Rupert while I'm still on maternity leave, but I'm planning to do more once he starts nursery and I'm back at work in July.”
The cause is hugely important to Holly. There is no cure and life expectancy is 6-8 years following surgery. Holly wanted to share her story in the hope of also helping others.
Thank you, Holly, for sharing your story.