- University of Basque Country enjoy their first title win at Formula Student UK
- ITESM from Mexico secure their first Concept Class win
- University of Edinburgh dominate FS-AI competition
- High number of cars through scrutineering
While 2025 was not the first time that this Spanish team have visited the UK competition, this year was certainly their most dominant and reflected the continual improvements the team have made over recent years to compete at the highest levels of the competition. The students entered a highly developed electric vehicle that put in strong performances across all the dynamic events and competed in both the Cost & Manufacturing and Engineering Design event finals.
The Runners up from the Technical University of Denmark, Vermilion Racing, also impressed by retaining their Business Presentation Plan event title from 2024, and by securing the overall Static Events winner, together with solid performance with their electric vehicle in the dynamic events. 2025 marks the first time that the Danish team have placed anywhere in the top 3 at a UK competition, and the team were jubilant on receiving their award.
Meanwhile, the UK's Oxford Brookes University secured the third place this year in a return to form for the team, who despite not securing any trophies in 2024, seemed to be experiencing a resurgence this year with their four-wheel-drive electric vehicle. Adding to their trophy tally, the team also took the Acceleration Event win with a 4.2 second run, the Faraday Institution Best EV Powertrain award, and the Multimatic Vehicle Dynamics Excellence award.
Elsewhere in the competition, the University of Birmingham showed that they have finally mastered their electric vehicle design, securing the Endurance event award as they returned to the tarmac of Silverstone for the first time since they switched powertrain types. Coventry University won the Sprint award, while the first team to compete in the UK from mainland China, Wuhan University of Technology, went home with the coveted Engineering Design Award.
In the Concept Class category, TM Racing from ITESM were on a charge this year, securing both the Concept Class Cost and Manufacturing award and overall Concept Class award, in a first win in the category for the team that the student team were elated to take home to Mexico.
From the opening day on the Thursday until close on the Sunday, the preparedness of all teams across the Silverstone paddock was remarkably higher than previous years, with judges and committee members all commenting and commending those in attendance. This was no better represented than by the team from Imperial College London, who managed to get through the Scrutineering process by mid afternoon on Thursday, putting them in an advantageous position to get on track by the weekend.
Imperial were soon joined by many others who had lined up on track, with a strong roster of petrol and electric entrants lined up to tackle the Endurance course on the Sunday morning. With more than 25 cars attempting the Endurance, 2025 marks a turning point for the UK competition as student teams return to pre-COVID levels of organisation.
Elsewhere in the paddock, the FS-AI competition continues to gain momentum, with a record 25 teams taking part and 6 teams managing to complete the Trackdrive event.
Head FS-AI Statics Judge Emma Penney was pleased with the clear increase in quality from the majority of the those taking part. "Many showed excellent preparation, and this showed in the quality of their answers. The standard of some of their presentations were to industry-standard and the speed at which teams got to grips with the FS-AI simulators in the Technology Hub meant that many were able to progress quickly and get on track for the first time."
The FS-AI dynamic events during the competition benefitted from the increased capacity of ADS-DV platform vehicles, thanks to the continued financial support of the UK Government’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles. Students from the The University of Edinburgh put in a commanding performance on both the presentation and the on-track events, taking home the lion's share of the trophies and the overall win in this category.
The full list of award winners and scores are now available on the Formula Student website.
Fiona Wong, Project Lead for Formula Student at the IMechE, was pleased at the smooth running of the event "The excitement and the enthusiasm all around the paddock has been great, with the great crowds along Copse Corner for the Sprint and Endurance being a particular highlight for me. On behalf of the team from the Institution I would like to thank our army of volunteers working across the competition to deliver our biggest and best event.”
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On behalf of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, we hope all students have enjoyed the chance to compete and hope you will join us once again for another year of Formula Student when registration reopens in Autumn.