South Africa’s Shau Mafuna Hired by Mercedes’ Formula 1 Team, Gets Approval From Lewis Hamilton

• South Africa's Shau Mafuna will work as a mechanical engineer for Mercedes in the coming season
• Lewis Hamilton started the programme, which saw Shau Mafuna get the new job with the Mercedes F1 team
• Social media is abuzz as South Africans congratulate Mafuna on his new role with Mercedes racing

South Africa's Shau Mafuna will fly the flag high for Mzansi when he serves as a mechanical engineer for the Mercedes Formula 1 team in the 2022 season.

Mafuna has dual Belgian and South African citizenship and has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Wits University as well as a Master's Degree in Motorsport Engineering from Oxford Brookes University.

Mafuna was offered the post in November 2021 and took to his Instagram account to announce the good news.

Mafuna was hired for the post after working at the Mercedes' Work Experience Academy (WEA) programme Sportskeeda reported. The WEA programme encouraged youngsters from diverse backgrounds to get into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths fields.

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The WEA programme was set up by Mercedes star driver Lewis Hamilton sought to bring more diversity to Formula 1.

His appointment has also got South African's singing Mafuna's praises and congratulating the youngster on his achievement.

@LorenArries:

Bless you Shau Mafuna in your super new job to join this prestigious @MercedesAMGF1 engineering team with Sir Lewis . I wish you success , happiness and great team synergy. They are going to love you!"

@Olerato007:

"Congratulations to the Mafunas. This must be big for the entire family as much as it’s great to our country."

@CassiusMabu:

"Congratulations Shau Mafuna for a job well done. Wishing you the best of progress!"

@RainmakerMizzo:

"Oh my goodness, isn’t this just awesome. Star-struck even for someone like me that doesn’t know much about F1, I’m ecstatic!!!"

@ElainePotgiete7:

"Awesome! You can see by the thread how proud everybody is. Go SA! Up there with the best. Congrats Shau!"

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Lewis Hamilton's future remains undecided, Mercedes posts tweet hinting at his return to Formula 1

In other Formula 1 news, Lewis Hamilton's future remains in doubt. Rumours that Lewis Hamilton is considering retiring from Formula 1 continue to swirl after the controversial Abu Dhabi race, Sports Brief reported.

Lewis is contracted to Mercedes until the end of the 2023 season but has remained silent over the rumours which began after the controversial Abu Dhabi race that saw Max Verstappen being crowned champion.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff first got many believing the rumours when he spoke to SkySports about how disillusioned the team felt after the season-ending race. Taking to Twitter recently though, Mercedes seemed to hint that Lewis would return to compete this season as he looks to win a record eighth Formula 1 World Championship.