Three teams from the ADNOC Yas in Schools programme will represent the UAE at the global competition linking STEM education with careers in motorsport

Abu Dhabi, UAE: Three UAE student teams will compete against more than 90 teams from around the world at the Aramco STEM Racing World Finals 2026, taking place from October 3 to 7 at Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore.

The UAE representatives, ALFA Racing, Hypernix and SOAR, come from the ADNOC Yas in Schools programme and include students aged 15 to 18 from the UAE’s international school community.

The competition, formerly known as F1 in Schools, challenges students to build and operate their own miniature Formula 1 teams. Participants design and manufacture a 1:25-scale model car and race it on a 20-metre track, while also taking on roles spanning engineering, research, management, marketing, manufacturing and media.

For the students, the competition offers an opportunity to apply classroom learning to a multidisciplinary project.

Three UAE teams

ALFA Racing, from Jumeirah College, comprises four 15-year-old Indian students: Ayan Mukherjee, Team Manager; Lakshya Agarwal, Head of Research; Ashmik Mehngi, Head Engineer; and Farhan Sameer Salahuddin, Head of Enterprise.

The team arrives in Singapore as the 2025 Rookie National Champions and winners of Best Verbal Presentation.

Hypernix, the 2025 ADNOC Yas in Schools F1 in Schools National Champions, consists of six students aged 17 to 18: Mihir Sane, Adnan Muhammed Jifri Nowfal, Ayush Bisoyi, Mohammed Raed Firoz, Saquib Manzar and Hemendra Sridhar.

Their roles cover team management, marketing, engineering, project management, visual design, media and manufacturing.

The third UAE representative, SOAR, is an all-female team comprising Kimaya Trivedi, Saanvi Matai, Sara Malkani and Saesha Shetty, all aged 17.

Beyond its competition work, SOAR has focused on encouraging more young women to engage with STEM Racing. The team says it has grown its social media audience by more than 3,000 followers and generated more than five million video views. It has also organised a student sim-racing competition involving more than 100 students and established the SOAR Women in STEM Award, which has since become part of the UAE national finals.

Ali Al Beshr, General Manager of Yas Marina Circuit, said the participation of three UAE teams reflects the opportunities STEM programmes can create beyond the classroom.

“As a Formula 1® venue, Yas Marina Circuit is proud to support young people,” he said.

From the classroom to Formula 1

STEM Racing positions the competition as more than a motorsport exercise, with students developing skills across engineering, design, project management, communication and enterprise.

Several former participants have gone on to work in Formula 1 and motorsport.

Lewis Fowler, who competed between 2016 and 2019 as part of Evolve UK, the 2019 F1 in Schools World Champions, is now an aerodynamic design engineer at Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team.

Kyriakos Theofanidis, a member of the 2016 World Champions Infinite Racing from Greece, is now a junior mechanical engineer at Oracle Red Bull Racing.

Merritt Kendzior, who competed in STEM Racing USA in 2013/14 and finished runner-up at the 2013 World Finals, is now a design engineer at GM Performance Power Units as well as the programme and competitions manager for STEM Racing USA.

For these alumni, the programme provided an early opportunity to apply technical skills to a real-world project and explore careers in motorsport.

“Competing opened my eyes to the career opportunities that F1 brings,” Fowler said.

Kendzior said participating at 14 introduced her to Formula 1 and helped her develop skills outside the classroom.

Building future STEM skills

STEM Racing Founder and Chairman Andrew Denford said the careers of former competitors demonstrate the potential of experiential STEM education.

“STEM Racing exists to find the engineers, designers, and innovators that Formula 1 needs,” he said.

The 2026 World Finals will bring together more than 90 teams of students aged 13 to 19 competing for the World Champions title.

The event is supported by title sponsor Aramco, with partners including Denford, Autodesk, Ansys, Maaden, Singapore Grand Prix, Project Management Institute Educational Foundation, UCL Mechanical Engineering, Singapore Tourism Board and the FIA.

For the UAE teams, the Singapore finals represent the next stage of a competition that connects school-based STEM learning with engineering, technology, teamwork and potential career pathways in motorsport.