Mark Preston

Mark Preston is best known for his remarkable accomplishments in Formula One, where he’s held key roles in the Arrows Grand Prix, McLaren Racing, and Super Aguri F1 teams. Now he heads up the Techeetah Formula E team which delivered the first 1-2 finish for any team in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship. As the series’ only customer team in Formula E, Mark delivers an insight into the optimisation of resources in a competitive environment to deliver results. With a career history that provides abundant evidence of his engineering skills and acumen in cutting-edge technology, Mark’s achievements would not have been possible without his passion for teamwork and his clear head for business.

Both of these he has evidenced in recent years by his completion of an MBA at Oxford University, and his ongoing involvement in the development and commercialisation of new, green technologies and start-ups, including starting an autonomous car company in 2017; StreetDrone. Mark moved to the UK in 1996 from Australia to break into Formula One. Six years with Arrows Grand Prix saw Mark go from stress analysis engineer to McLaren F1 as a Principal Designer then Head of Vehicle Laboratories. Mark worked alongside Adrian Newey and Mike Coughlan on the controversial MP4-18a but with bigger plans in mind moved onto starting Preston Racing with the ultimate aim of starting his own Formula One team.

A small group of former Arrows Grand Prix colleagues got together and formed an F1 team startup which then morphed into Super Aguri F1 with Honda, Bridgestone and Aguri Suzuki. This was the start of the famous 100 days of starting Super Aguri Formula One. 100 Days to start a Formula One team involved the recruitment of 100 people, delivery of 55 tonnes of equipment and 2 cars to the first Formula One race in Bahrain.

Most recently, his biggest achievement is as a founding Team Principal of the FIA Formula E (electric) Championship. This city based form of clean and green racing is pioneering the world of electric drivetrains that will disrupt the automotive marketplace and drive change in one of the world’s oldest manufacturing industries: transportation. As a leading figure in the motorsports industry, Mark is an ideal speaker for relevant talks and fascinating keynote speeches. In addition, Mark can provide an exciting insight into the world of startups, autonomous, electric and F1 fields and pull this together in a compelling way for any event based on innovation, technology, and the future.