Leading Newbury Formula 1 supplier Progressive Technology named best of the year by Mercedes

A leading supplier to motorsport and aerospace in Newbury has been named Overall Supplier of the Year for Mercedes Formula 1.

Progressive Technology, a 24-hour mechanical engineering firm based on Hambridge Lane, won the award on the back of receiving Supplier of the Year last August.

And to celebrate its success, Mercedes brought its F1 car to one of the company’s new units on Friday (June 13) to give employees and apprentices a chance to see some of their work up close.

Operations director Steve Shadwell said: “This award is absolutely enormous for us.

“We’ve been close in the past. I joined 11 years ago, and we’ve gone after it pretty much from that day.

“Along with our apprentice training academy, I would say it’s one of our jewels in the crown.”

The manufacturer now employs more than 300 staff members, up from 25 when Mr Shadwell first joined.

Its busiest period designing components is during the winter months before racing commences in the summer.

Apprentice Will, from Basingstoke, now works on the shop floor.

He said: “It’s great to get a closer look at the car.

“We’ve been involved in designing many of the components used for the race cars.”

The company’s milestone comes at an important time as it expands further into the field of aerospace.

Mr Shadwell added: “This [Unit 13] is 18,000 square feet. And it is our next big project.

“We took this building about 18 months ago and spent nine months refurbishing it.

“There’ll be more machinery and all the same things we do elsewhere.

“In the last two years, we’ve branched out into aerospace. This unit is part of that growth plan.”

The Progressive Technology Group is a sub-contract engineering firm specialising in advanced CNC multi-axis machining, fully-finished carbon components, class-leading patterns, structural foams and 3-D additive manufacturing.