Not often do we get golden opportunities to live the dream and work within the motorsport sector, especially living in a small place like rural County Down, but that’s what is currently happening for local girl Bindi-Lee McQuaid.
In an exclusive interview with The Motorsport Hub, Bindi describes what it’s like to work for the French Formula 1 team Alpine and discusses how she got the position and remembers her local roots in motorsport.
“Motorsport has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, thanks to my family’s involvement in stock car racing.
Growing up, I always aspired to follow in their footsteps and race stock cars myself. While I never had the chance to do that, I did compete in rally sprints for two years, driving a Mk6 Ford Fiesta.
Throughout my time in both stock car racing and rallying, I met so many people who helped open doors for me.
I joined Rathfriland Motor Club at the beginning of 2025. I wanted to join for a while; my mom’s cousin had been a part of it for a few years. And then I saw someone wearing one of the
Rathfriland Motor Club jackets at work one day and decided to ask about the club and see if I could join.
Whilst I was in Motor Club, I got to see the other side of motorsport, the organisation of it. I knew the preparation of cars for rallies was impressive, which I saw when I was on work experience with Kenny McKinstry.
But I never knew the amount of preparation that was on the other side, and I was grateful to be part of it. Additionally, through connections in the stock car community, I also secured work experience with the Alpine F1 Team in June 2024.
In April of this year, a position became available in one of the departments I had previously worked with at Alpine.
I applied, and the team made arrangements to bring me on board as a junior technician. I officially started at the end of June, and my experience so far has been incredible. I’ve learnt a huge amount already and had the chance to work with new tools and machines.
I’m currently part of the Sub Assembly department, where nearly everything that needs to be assembled passes through our hands.
And recently, I had the opportunity to help strip down one of the F1 cars, which gave me valuable insight into exactly where the components I help build are fitted on the car.”
Bindi hopes to gain more experience in F1 and then move to WRC in a couple of years, where she’ll love to work on rally cars or even move to Australia to work with V8 Supercars.
