En De Liow, a Petronas Trackside Fluid Engineer who works closely with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 racing team has recently shared industry insights and his experience working with Lewis Hamilton and co. with more than 200 automotive engineering students from Despark College, a local leading automotive and aircraft maintenance college.

Petronas Lubricants International, the global lubricants manufacturing and marketing arm of the company, in collaboration with Despark College had designed the virtual meet-and-greet session with Liow with one objective in mind, which is to help shape industry-ready graduates, who are the future leaders and movers in the Malaysian automotive and motorsports scene.

Students were able to gain insights into the automotive industry as well as to learn from Liow’s experience, whose role is to provide technical support to the racing team. Liow also analyses Petronas's Primax Fuels, Syntium engine oils and the Tutela functional fluids that are used in the F1 cars pre- and post-race to ensure that the cars are always functioning at their optimal conditions.

Giuseppe Pedretti, Regional Managing Director Asia, Petronas Lubricants International expressed: “As an organisation, we want to empower students and young professionals to help them discover their inner talents. As we strive to develop high-end fluid technology for our partners and consumers, we also believe in equipping the next generation with real-life industry insights and perspectives. This, in turn, can help to enrich the students who aspire to be our future movers and shakers of the automotive industry.”

Liow, who spoke about the importance of being a team player and making the most out of his opportunities, shared: “I’m extremely blessed to have been part of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 racing team. This is truly a money-can’t-buy experience. With that, my hope is to share, inspire and empower young talents who especially have high interest in the automotive industry to pursue their passion and to keep working at honing their skills and talents in that direction.”

Meanwhile, Ahmad Firdaus Mansor, Business Development Manager of Despark College commented, “Being in this industry, our students’ well-being and education growth are our utmost priority. We appreciate collaboration opportunities such as this because they are important for our students and for the larger automotive scene as we want to ensure that we grow with them on this journey to prepare industry-ready graduates with a deeper understanding of the automotive industry.”

He also added that the initiative of the meet-and-greet session with Liow was organised to bridge the gap by providing real-life industry exposure and insights into the profession.