Young Aussie wins Infiniti Engineering Academy position

In its fourth year running, the Infiniti Engineering Academy has begun announcing winners from seven regions around the world to join both Infiniti and the Renault Sport Formula One Team in a year-long engineering placement.

The recently announced winner from the Asia-Oceania region is young Aussie engineer Jacob Debono, who is now the second Australian to take the top spot.

The announcement was made by Renault Sport F1 driver Nico Hülkenberg in a livestream, with the ten contestants from across Australia and Asia waiting to hopefully have their name read out.

“I’m a bit overwhelmed to be honest,” Debono said after Hülkenberg called out his name.

“There are nine other people who could just as easily be standing in this spot, so I’m incredibly grateful to be standing where I am right now.

“You’re all exceptional people and exceptional engineers, and I look forward to bumping courses with you in the future.”

When asked what he thought made him the best candidate for the winning spot, Debono was still just as humble.

“I have no idea to be honest.”

“I was standing there thinking which one of the guys next to me was going to get this. I thought maybe I had a three per cent chance, so it’s all very overwhelming.”

Last year, then 21-year-old Brisbane engineering student Jaden Partridge won the honour and joined Infiniti as one of seven winners, also securing a place in the team at this year’s Australian Grand Prix.

This year, Jacob Debono is joined by Chinese winner Yifei Liao, Canadian Matthew Crossan, and Mexico’s winner José Pablo Avalos. The European, US, and Middle Eastern winners are yet to be announced.