SA engineer gets the nod from Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton will have South African muscle and brain in his corner this season.

Shau Mafuna has joined the Mercedes Benz High Performance Powertrains team that works behind the Formula One motor racing outfit as a mechanical engineer.

But the Johannesburg-born Wits BSc graduate with a Masters degree in motorsport engineering from Oxford-Brooks University, who just last week received a head-nod from the seven-times world champion as he walked through the office building, is focusing on the nuts and bolts of the job rather than the perceived glamour.

“It is a major achievement but I’m wary of the whole ‘Hollywood’ type of attention because that’s not what I’m all about, I want to have more of an impact than that,” he told the Sunday Times in an interview.

He was bitten by the racing sport bug at a friend’s motocross racing birthday party in Midrand when he was a kid.

While his peers were infatuated with football, rugby, and cricket, Mafuna was glued to the small screen watching and learning from legendary race kings Michael Schumacher, Sarel van der Merwe and the late Gugu Zulu.

I’m wary of the whole ‘Hollywood’ type of attention because that’s not what I’m all about

—  Shau Mafuna

“I learned from them that if your name is on a product, service, or anything, then you have to try your best to ensure that it is represented to a high level. I’m not one to go around bragging about ‘Oh I did this or that’. I would rather have my work speak for itself,” the burly-built Mafuna said.

Father Eric, a business leader and founding president of the Black Management Forum, recognised Shau’s passion early and wasted no time in buying him a go-cart racing car in his early days.

Mafuna’s stint abroad was a dream his father was unable to achieve when, having won a scholarship to Princeton University in the US, he was refused a passport by the apartheid government.

Mafuna, a former weigh-lifting athlete, said Mercedes had a get-it-right-the-first-time ethos. “It’s part of the culture at the company because we work in an environment where everything moves at breakneck speed. There’s hardly any room for mistakes because they can be costly.

 “Think of it this way: you have a race on the weekend, and you must design an engine part which you must then submit to the track team for installation on the Friday before the race.

"So you realise how short a time-span you have to make sure that everything goes well, you become an integral part of the whole machinery.”

He is looking to make an impact in the UK by joining organisations such as Diversity In Racing, as he realises the power of representation in the sport. “I’m really inspired by the personal values of drivers such as Zulu and Hamilton.

 “Zulu will forever be etched in my heart and mind because of the humble person that he was,” Mafuna said of the celebrated SA driving star who died in 2016 while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

“I was fortunate enough to meet him a couple of times and will remember him as someone who always had a smile on his face and willing to help.

“From him, Hamilton, and other South African drivers I have learned that one has to give their best no matter where they’re from.”