Paddy Lowe | |
|---|---|
 Lowe in 2021 | |
| Born | Patrick Allen Lowe (1962-04-08)8 April 1962 (age 63) |
| Alma mater | Sevenoaks School Sidney Sussex College University of Cambridge |
| Occupation(s) | Founder and CEO ofZero, formerFormula One Chief Technical Officer |
| Spouse | Anna Danshina |
| Children | 2 |
Patrick Allen Lowe (born 8 April 1962) is the founder and CEO of the fossil-freesynthetic fuel companyZero. A former motor racing engineer and computer scientist, he spent 32 years working inFormula One, serving as Chief Technical Officer atWilliams Racing, Executive Director (Technical) atMercedes Formula One team, and Technical Director atMcLaren. He was involved with cars that won 12 World Championships (7Drivers' and 5Constructors') and secured 158 race wins. He left Formula One in 2019 and co-founded Zero in 2020.
Lowe was born on 8 April 1962 inNairobi,British Kenya. He attendedSevenoaks School from 1976 until 1980 and graduated fromSidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1984 with a degree in Engineering.[1][2]
Lowe worked in Formula One over four decades, developing at least seven championship-winning cars.[3] He was involved in cars that won 12 World Championships (7 Drivers' and 5 Constructors'), 158 Grands Prix, and 10Autosport Racing Car of the Year awards, pioneering innovative systems includingactive suspension,traction control, automaticclutch control,active differentials,anti-lock brakes,driving simulators, andhybrid engines.[2] He was the Technical Director behind the first 53 wins ofLewis Hamilton's record-breaking career and he led the Mercedes team to 19 wins from 21 races in 2016.[4]
In 1987, Lowe was employed byWilliams as Joint Head of Electronics. He spent six years at Williams, during which time he oversaw the development of active suspension, used to helpNigel Mansell and Williams win the 1992 Drivers' and Constructors' titles.[2][3]
Lowe moved toMcLaren in 1993, when he was employed as Head of Research and Development, a department subsequently renamed Vehicle Technology.[2] He is credited for helpingMika Häkkinen againstMichael Schumacher, winning the Constructors' title in 1998 and the Drivers' title in 1998 and 1999.[3] Lowe was head of the department for eight years until 2001, when he was appointed Chief Engineer Systems Development, a role focusing on the race programme.[1] In 2005, he assumed the role of Engineering Director, which gave him responsibility for all the engineering departments. TheMcLaren MP4-20 proved fast but unreliable, winning 10 Grands Prix but losing both Drivers' and Constructors' titles.[5] In 2008, he ledLewis Hamilton to his first Drivers' title.[3] In January 2011, Lowe became the team's Technical Director.[6] He left McLaren in 2013.[7]
Lowe moved toMercedes Formula One team as Executive Director on 3 June 2013.[8][9] In 2015, Lowe was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Academy of Engineering. He and his elder brother,Michael Lowe, were the first brothers to both be elected as aFellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.[2] Lowe has been credited for having "laid the foundations for the team's crushing dominance of the V6 turbo era",[3] and called "a key architect of Mercedes' Formula 1 domination", winningLewis Hamilton the 2014 and 2015 Drivers' titles andNico Rosberg the 2016 Drivers' title, also winning three consecutive Constructors' titles in the process by almost 300 points each time; Mercedes under Lowe won 51 out of 59 Grands Prix, took 56 out of 59pole positions, and led 84 percent of the racing laps.[10] On 10 January 2017, Mercedes announced that Lowe had left the team and entered a period ofgarden leave.[11]
As part of a deal that broughtValtteri Bottas to Mercedes,[12] Lowe returned to Williams as Chief Technical Officer on 16 March 2017.[13][14] He replacedPat Symonds, who left the team at the end of 2016.[15] Alongside his technical position, Lowe became a shareholder in the team,[16] making him the team's most senior figure.[17] The Williams cars under his supervision,FW41 andFW42,[18][19][20] turned out to be largely uncompetitive and relegated Williams to the bottom of the Constructors' Championship in 2018 and 2019, even missing the 2019 pre-season testing.[21] On 6 March 2019, it was announced that Lowe would be taking a leave of absence for personal reasons.[22] On 25 June 2019, Lowe left Williams with immediate effect.[23]
A proponent ofsynthetic fuels as part of theautomotive industry's cleaner future,[24] Lowe is the co-founder of Zero.[25][26] Founded in 2020 asZero Petroleum Limited, it is a British technology company that develops and manufactures whole-blend synthetic, non-biological, and fossil-free fuels includingpetrol (gasoline),diesel, andjet fuel. Its product is designed as an alternative to fossil-based fuels and a more scalable sustainable alternative to waste andbiofuels.[27] The process uses justcarbon dioxide taken from the air andrenewable hydrogen made from water; Lowe calls this process petrosynthesis. Synthetic fuels, which can be made at scale, can be dropped straight into the existing engines of cars, aircraft, commercial, and agricultural vehicles, allowing them to run sustainably in exactly the same way and with the same performance as they do onfossil fuels, without the need for any engine modification. They eliminategreenhouse gas accumulation through the creation of a circularcarbon cycle, and so eliminate the need for fossil fuels in global industries such asaviation.[28] Lowe, who has been described as "a former top F1 chief engineer who wants to transform the fuel industry",[29] observed: "We're all hardwired to consider petroleum and fossil fuels as one and the same thing, but they're not. Fossil petroleum is a bad thing for the future, and it's becoming abundantly clear that we need to move away from it. But petroleum itself is a fantastic set of chemicals, both for energy and as the basis of everything from plastics to pharmaceuticals. It simply isn't feasible to move away from petroleum, so the question is how do we make it synthetically?"[3]
Lowe is married to screen actress Anna Danshina. He has two children from a previous relationship: Noah Kelly and Finty Kelly. His brother,Michael Lowe, is a British mechanical engineer who is five years his senior and with whom he used to dismantle various bicycles and engines.[2]
| Season | World Championship | Chassis | Engine | Statistics | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constructors' | Drivers' | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | WCC | |||
| 1992 | Lowe was Head of Electronics | |||||||||
 Williams | Nigel Mansell | FW14B | Renault | 16 | 10 | 15* | 11* | 21 | 1st | |
| 1998 | Lowe was Head of Research and Development | |||||||||
| McLaren |  Mika Häkkinen | MP4/13 | Mercedes | 16 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 20 | 1st | |
| 1999 | — | Mika Häkkinen | MP4/14 | 16 | 7 | 11 | 9 | 16 | 2nd | |
| 2008 | Lowe was Engineering Director | |||||||||
| — | Lewis Hamilton | MP4/23 | Mercedes | 18 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 13 | 2nd | |
| 2014 | Lowe was Executive Director | |||||||||
 Mercedes | Lewis Hamilton | W05 | Mercedes | 19 | 16 | 18 | 12 | 31 | 1st | |
| 2015 | Mercedes | Lewis Hamilton | W06 | 19 | 16 | 18 | 13* | 32 | 1st | |
| 2016 | Mercedes | Nico Rosberg | W07 | 21 | 19* | 20† | 9 | 33† | 1st | |
Key: (Bold) personal record; (*) constructor record; (†)Formula One record
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