A pandemic-era Netflix binge launched a Waterloo Engineering alum's career in Formula 1.
Christina Sullivan (BASc '23, mechatronics engineering) discovered an unexpected passion for the technical and engineering dimensions of motorsport from watching Drive to Survive during COVID-19. She secured an internship with Williams Racing in the U.K. and has been on the F1 team full-time since graduation.
Sullivan works as a wind tunnel systems engineer, contributing to the aerodynamic development of one of the sport's most recognized F1 cars. In her role, she designs and fabricates printed circuit boards and electrical harnesses, develops data acquisition systems and ensures wind tunnel data accuracy. The wind tunnel model she works on replicates track conditions, testing a scale model of the car to determine its performance across different environments — results that directly shape aerodynamic development on the race car.
"My main responsibility is the development and maintenance of our F1 wind tunnel model. All the aerodynamic developments that are seen on the car during races are first seen on this model in the wind tunnel," said Sullivan in a Waterloo News story.
With F1's biggest regulation changes in the sport's history rolling out this season, Sullivan's team has been navigating rapid pivots. She also speaks openly about her experience as a woman in a male-dominated field, crediting two female engineering role models — her mother and her sister — with teaching her to advocate for herself early.
"My mum and sister taught me quite quickly to advocate for myself and to be confident," she said in a BBC interview, "and those two things are big hurdles when you are a younger female engineer."
Sullivan is the daughter of Dr. Pearl Sullivan, former dean of Waterloo Engineering. Her sister Veronica Sullivan (MASc ’17, civil engineering) is also a Waterloo Engineering alum.