Professor Tim Baker to be director at Red Bull Powertrains

Professor Baker, an alumnus of UCL Mechanical Engineering with a substantial previous career in race engineering, will be returning to the cutting edge of motorsport. He will have a leading role at the reigning Formula One (F1) World Champions Red Bull in their newly-developed powertrains division, which he describes as “a huge start-up on steroids”.

The new division – whose Technical Director is fellow MechEng alumnus, honorary UCL professor and former Baker protégé, Ben Hodgkinson – are gearing up to replace Honda powertrains for the 2026 F1 season.

Professor Baker explained his new role in this ambitious undertaking saying,

He will also be involved in the new Red Bull Engineering Academy, which they describe as a “global talent search to identify a diverse range of graduates who will develop into the engineering and technology leaders of the future.”

While Baker will still be actively involved in UCL Mechanical Engineering for the rest of the academic year 2022/23 (on a part-time basis), his eventual departure will inevitably mean a significant change for the department.

Since re-joining UCL as an academic on a part-time basis in 2010, Tim has pioneered changes to the undergraduate curriculum, boosting the department’s teaching of practical engineering and employability skills, alongside enhancing industry engagement and school outreach.

He has also served as Team Principal for UCLR, an umbrella body for student teams designing and building prototypes for national and international competitions. He also campaigned for and established ‘MechSpace’, an impressive dedicated facility for mechanical engineering students to design and build engineering prototypes.

In 2020, at the height of the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic in Britain, Baker was pivotal in pulling together ‘UCL Ventura’, a collaboration between UCL, UCLH, Mercedes AMG HPP (F1) and other partners, which engineered and delivered 10,000 breathing aids for NHS hospitals around the UK, in record time. The then newly-opened MechSpace proved a critical hub for this widely-lauded project during the first UK “lockdown”.

A driving force

Announcing Professor Baker’s exciting new role, Head of Department Professor Yiannis Ventikos said,

“Tim has connected his name and has made the most pivotal contributions in some of the biggest wins this Department has seen in the past ten years or so, with delivering UCL Ventura and the establishment of MechSpace itself being the most prominent ones. As Head of Department, I consider myself particularly lucky to have had Prof Baker as a driving force behind such amazing developments.

“I am very proud for the confidence a household name enterprise and prestige cutting-edge engineering establishment like Red Bull is putting on Tim.”

Bittersweet

Reflecting on the significant legacy of positive developments, in tandem with a range of colleagues, for the department and its students Professor Baker said:

“How am I feeling? Bittersweet, absolutely. I've never been about to start such an exciting role, but at the same time have mixed emotions about what I'm leaving behind.

I feel we've built a fantastic foundation and how do I feel? I don't think I'm permanently leaving. If I end up going into the four walls of Red Bull Powertrains for five plus days a week, I won't be as strong and as good an engineer and make as good a contribution as if I still have contact with the outside world.”