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Debuting in 2024 and currently in its third season, the series now boasts ten teams owned by notable names such as Will Smith, Rafa Nadal and Lebron James. Founded by the mind behind Formula E and Extreme H, Alejandro Agag, each team has one male and one female pilot, promoting gender equality in sport and races in locations such as Saudi Arabia, Croatia and the Caribbean.

Two of the twenty pilots competing this year are Oban Duncan and Catie Munnings.

The youngest competitor in the series, Oban, is a ten-time Powerboat Champion, was named West Dunbartonshire Sports Personality of the Year, and has already earned multiple podium finishes in the E1 Series. This year, she’s competing for Team Monaco alongside Maxime Nocher.

Catie Munnings, meanwhile, races for the Sierra Racing Club team with Erik Stark and came to the E1 Series with a background in Extreme E and WRX, and is one of the UK’s most accomplished female motorsport athletes.

Ahead of the fourth round of the 2026 season that is due to take place this weekend in Monaco, It’s Race Week! sat down with these two pilots from this year’s Championship. We talked about their differing sporting careers so far, how this led to both of them going head-to-head in the E1 Series, their expectations for the remainder of the season, the importance of giving female athletes the chance to compete in the series, and more.

Watch the full interview now and follow both Oban and Catie’s progress this weekend in Monaco through socials and by watching the E1 Series live on YouTube and selected broadcasters.

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The morning was warm and windy in Silverstone, the F1 ACADEMY paddock already buzzing despite the early Friday start. Nina Gademan had just come off the only practice session of the weekend and gone straight into a massage. When she sat down across from me, she was relaxed, in good spirits, and clearly aware that the rest of her day was already spoken for. I had less than ten minutes with her.

“It was a bit dirty, but it was a good session,” she said of the track. “So, not too bad.”

Not too bad has become something of a theme this season. Nobody circled Gademan’s name as a title favourite coming into her second year in F1 ACADEMY. She arrived at Silverstone, the series' first-ever visit to the circuit and round three of the championship, sixth in the standings. By the time she left, she’d closed the gap to the front from a full second down to half a tenth, and moved up to third with an extra podium behind her.

“I remember we lacked a bit of pace in testing here, two months ago-ish, I think,” she told me. “And then we just worked hard behind the scenes, focusing on the things we needed to. And now we’ve closed the gap from one second to basically half a tenth to Palmowski. So, yeah, I think we made a good step.”

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It’s a modest way to describe what’s actually a quite remarkable turnaround, and it fits a driver whose career has never followed the easy route. Gademan had her first go-kart at five years old and fought her way through the Dutch karting ranks the way most drivers do, on ambition and family sacrifice.

By nineteen, the money had run out. She stepped away from racing entirely for a year and a half, long enough that most people would have let the dream go. Instead, she leaned into sim racing, and the videos she posted on social media found an audience large enough to put her in front of a manager, and eventually the sponsors who funded her way back into a real car.

The comeback, once it started, moved fast. Her F1 ACADEMY debut came as a Wild Card at Zandvoort in 2024, where she became the first Wild Card driver in the series to score points. A full-time seat followed in 2025 with Alpine and PREMA, four podiums and a maiden win at her home race in Zandvoort, on her own birthday. This year, she’s moved to her compatriots at MP Motorsport, opened the season with a win in Shanghai, and is now building a genuine case for the title.

“I think the switch from PREMA to MP has been really good,” she said. “Working together with the team has felt quite natural so far, as well with Alpine, obviously, also behind the scenes.” She talked me through the season so far without ceremony: Shanghai going almost too smoothly, Montreal going badly wrong. “Those weekends happen. I mean, they also happen in F1 to drivers. I think the most important thing is how, after that, you look back at it, you reflect on it, you’re working with the team, you try and find out what you can do better.”

That steadiness reads differently once you know what else she’s carrying. A year and a half ago, Gademan was diagnosed with scoliosis, a condition that arrived suddenly and without warning. It has changed how she trains and what her body can do on any given day. Squats are off the table. Running is off the table. She’s on a bike instead, and much of the treatment she gets for it is, in her words, painful. A heavy crash last year in Jeddah put 20 Gs through a spine that was never built to take that kind of impact.

“I was actually very lucky I didn’t break my back,” she said. “Because I’ve got scoliosis, obviously, my spine cannot take that hit.” She rattled off, almost matter-of-factly, everything the diagnosis has taken off the table: “I need to train differently than other drivers. There are exercises like a squat that I can’t do. I can’t run, so I’m on the bike all the time, and I can’t do rowing or whatever. There’s a lot of stuff I can’t do, and a lot of treatment I get on the side, which is very painful sometimes. But it’s getting better.” Then, simply: “It’s not holding me back anymore a lot in racing.”

None of this featured in the highlight reel from Shanghai or the podium at Silverstone, and she clearly prefers it that way. When I asked how she’s approaching this week’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, where she’s about to drive a Formula 1 car, she was almost stubborn about keeping her focus on the weekend in front of her. The team wanted to walk her through the car's procedures before Silverstone. “Tell me after the weekend, please,” she told them. “I don’t want to think about it this weekend.” It’s a small moment, but it says a lot about how she operates: one job finished before the next one gets any of her attention.

The car in question has history attached to it. Gademan will take the Lotus E20, the car Kimi Räikkönen drove to victory at the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, up the Goodwood Hill on Thursday, 9th of July, alongside Alpine’s current F1 driver Pierre Gasly, part of a five-strong Alpine line-up across the weekend that also includes Franco Colapinto, Paul Aron, and Alex Dunne.

“Just to be living this dream is still kind of surreal sometimes because I used to live a normal life. I used to have three jobs and save up money for a race. So I know what it’s like out there as a normal person, basically. And just to live the life I want to right now and actually performing well is surreal sometimes. Sometimes I forget about it. I need to calm down, realise I’m living the dream, and get on with the work.”

Next up is Zandvoort, F1 ACADEMY’s fourth round and the race that means the most to her and where fans have shown up for her in force. One of them, she told me almost in disbelief, had her signature tattooed onto their skin. “That’s what we love,” she said, and there was no performance in the way she said it. She has good memories there, a Wild Card debut and a maiden win, and she’s not shy about what she wants from a repeat visit. “We’re coming for another win in the Zandvoort race, and then hopefully tons of fans again at the garages.”

Whatever happens there, Gademan has already made her point at Silverstone: results built without noise and a season that keeps getting better.

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Previously used as an airfield during World War II, the Silverstone Circuit was used for the very first Formula 1 Grand Prix, hosting the inaugural World Championship round on May 13th 1950. Giuseppe Farina won the race in his Alfa Romeo 158, with Luigi Fagioli in second place and British driver Reg Parnell in third.

Fifty-Nine British Grand Prix have been held at the Silverstone Circuit in total, with it becoming the main venue for the event every year since 1987. Prior to that, the British Grand Prix was also held at Brands Hatch and at Aintree. Lewis Hamilton holds the record for the most victories at this circuit (nine) while Ferrari holds the most wins for a Constructor (eighteen). The venue has seen countless memorable moments throughout the years too. Examples include Hamilton and Verstappen’s opening lap melee in 2021, Nigel Mansell’s dominant drive in 1992 and Nico Hulkenberg’s debut podium in 2025.

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F1 Academy hasn’t raced at Silverstone before but its spiritual predecessor, W Series did, supporting Formula 1 in 2021 and 2022. In the first of those two events, Alice Powell won with Fabienne Wohlwend in second and Jamie Chadwick in third. In 2022, it was Chadwick who came out on top with Emma Kimiläinen in second and Abbi Pulling in third.

This year, it will serve as the location for F1 Academy’s third round of its 2026 Season. The 3.6 mile circuit boasts eighteen corners, including the iconic Copse, Maggots and Beckets combination as well as Vale and Woodcote. Max Verstappen currently holds the lap record of 1:27.097 which he set back in 2020.

Being Britain in the summertime when F1 Academy visits, good weather is not guaranteed. Both gloriously sunny days and rain drenched weekends have taken place in July’s gone by, as well as suitably mixed conditions, as we saw in 2024. All of these elements combined with the nature of the circuit should provide the F1 Academy drivers with one of their most intriguing and enjoyable challenges yet.

F1 Academy Preview

British driver Alisha Palmowski leads the Championship heading into this round of F1 Academy with 78 points to her name. Emma Felbermayr sits in second place on 53 and Megan Bruce rounds out the top three on 37 points. Palmowski and Bruce are two of five British drivers on the F1 Academy grid this year. Ella Lloyd, Ella Stevens and Rachel Robertson complete that set of five and gives British fans of the series plenty of opportunities to realise at least some glory when F1 Academy goes racing at Silverstone.

Palmowski won two of the three races last time out in Canada with Mathilda Paatz winning the third. Will Palmowski strike again on home soil or will either one of the other Championship contenders or someone new best her in single seater combat?

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And if you have a few extra days, London is waiting. One of the most exciting, layered, and endlessly entertaining cities in the world, it comes alive during British Grand Prix week with brand activations, fan events, and the particular electricity of a city that knows Formula 1 is in town.

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Silverstone, where everything started

Silverstone hosted the very first Formula 1 World Championship round on 13 May 1950. More than seven decades on, it remains one of the fastest and most technically demanding circuits on the calendar. It’s also where Doriane Pin, the 2025 F1 ACADEMY champion, completed her first F1 test with Mercedes earlier in April.

Historic corners like Maggotts, Becketts and Abbey still pose some of the biggest challenges drivers face all year, and fans get something rare here: access. You can walk the entire circuit, watch cars from multiple vantage points, and feel the speed in a way that other venues simply don’t allow.

For Manon and Maia, the married couple and content creators behind ManiaOnBoard, who are based in London, the appeal goes beyond the racing itself.

“The nice thing about the British Grand Prix is that it feels like a festival and you can make friends so easily. Just speak to someone and make a friend!”

That warmth is part of what makes Silverstone one of the most beloved rounds on the calendar for fans and drivers alike.

What’s happening at the 2026 British Grand Prix?

The 2026 British Grand Prix runs from 2–5 July at Silverstone. It’s the fourth Sprint weekend of the season, and Formula 2 and Formula 3 will also be competing, which means more competitive sessions and very little downtime across the four days.

It’s also Round 3 of the F1 ACADEMY championship, and the all-female grid will be racing at Silverstone for the first time in competition. They did hold official testing sessions here back in April, and several drivers have raced here in other categories, so they won’t be arriving blind. With four rounds left in the championship and Alisha Palmowski leading comfortably ahead of Emma Felbermayr and Megan Bruce, the title picture is still very much alive.

Entertainment at the circuit

Alongside world-class on-track action, the 2026 British Grand Prix is packed with live music, driver appearances, comedy, podcasts, family activities and immersive fan experiences from Thursday through Sunday.

Thursday opens with a women in motorsport panel featuring inspiring voices from across the industry, followed by stories from F1 ACADEMY drivers. The evening belongs to music starts Anne-Marie, David Guetta and John Newman.

Friday brings Formula 1 driver interviews, community hub talks with Girls Across the Grid, Racing Pride and Driven By Us, plus comedy shows featuring Jake Whitehall and music from Blur bassist Alex James, Richard Ashcroft and Rudimental.

Saturday features more driver appearances, the F1 Explains Podcast with Jenson Button, a talk from former Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner, the RAF Falcons Aerial Jump Display, and sets from Jazzy, Chase & Status and Pendulum.

Sunday closes the weekend with more comedy, podcasts and the music of James Arthur.

Beyond the stages, all 2026 British Grand Prix ticket holders receive free access to Silverstone Museum, where you can explore legendary cars and the full history of British motorsport. There are simulators and interactive challenges in the F1 Fanzone, big screens showing the summer’s biggest sporting events, and a dedicated Family Zone for younger fans.

Enjoy the myriad of brand activations in London

As a city with most F1 teams headquartered nearby, London leans fully into British Grand Prix week. The activations start well before race day, and there’s plenty to enjoy.

• F1 ACADEMY is bringing The Future Is Fast pop-up to Outernet London on 27–28 June, a free two-day fan experience at Charing Cross ahead of the series’ debut at Silverstone. Expect driver appearances, interactive activations and exclusive giveaways.

• Williams is returning to Piccadilly Circus from 30th June – 5th July 2026, with their Fan Zone at The Venue, presented by Kraken. Team Principal James Vowles and driver Alex Albon will both make appearances, and fans can get up close to a full-scale FW48 show car, pick up special-edition Silverstone merchandise, and take part in games and contests. It’s become a fixture of British Grand Prix week for good reason.

• The Quadrant team are bringing their pop-up to Charing Cross, with merchandise, gaming, simulators and team appearances. And will have a Meet & Greet with driver Arid Lindblad at Foreign Exchange News on Monday, 29th June.

• On Oxford Street, the PUMA flagship store has Ferrari, McLaren and Aston Martin merchandise on display, along with an authentic Ferrari F1 car and genuine Michael Schumacher race items. The Adidas store is stocking the new Blue Wonder Mercedes collection alongside Audi Revolut gear. Future Stores has a McLaren pop-up store with simulators, exclusive merch, an F1 car and the chance to win VIP tickets. Selfridges has an Elemis pop-up where you can win Aston Martin merchandise. The Disney Store currently has the brand new Formula 1 x Disney collection.

• And if you want to be active, Aston Martin and Celsius are organising a 5k run in Regent’s Park on Tuesday, 30 June.

Where to stay, eat, and explore in London

London is quite an expensive city, so doing some research before you book goes a long way. Manon and Maia recommend Victoria for budget-friendly hotels, or the Southwark/London Bridge area if you want something nicer without paying central London prices. AirBnBs are a good option too, but as they warn, “if something is too good to be true budget-wise, be mindful.”

That said, since London is not close to the circuit, most people book accommodation near Silverstone. On-site options exist but come at a premium. For those wanting to wake up trackside, Escapade Silverstone, Hilton Garden Inn, the Pop-Up hotel, or the official Silverstone camping options are worth considering.

The more popular choice, however, is staying in one of the nearby towns with access to F1’s official Shuttle Bus, like Towcester, Buckingham, Oxford, Milton Keynes or Coventry, where prices are more affordable when booked in advance. If you do have extra days, coming to London early is the better move to enjoy all the brand activations happening in the city.

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London’s food scene

London’s food scene is one of its biggest selling points. Manon and Maia, both vegetarians, are well placed to guide you. “London is amazing for us. The best vegan address is Mildreds but most restaurants will accommodate for this diet.”

For good and affordable Asian food, Chinatown is the go-to — their pick is Dumpling Legend. Brick Lane is where you go for a curry, and it’s worth checking restaurant websites before you go, as many offer 50% off your bill. If you’re visiting on a Sunday, find a pub doing a traditional Sunday Roast — it’s a genuine cultural experience if you’re not from the UK. London has a strong coffee culture right now, and Manon and Maia’s favourites are Coffee Island and Monmouth Coffee. On the pub front, they have a recommendation that might surprise you:

“It is an unpopular opinion, but we recommend you go to a Wetherspoons; it is cheap and will change your life.”

For something with more personality, Waxys just off Piccadilly Circus is an Irish pub built like a treehouse. And if you’re in London for the F1, the F1 Arcade at St Paul’s is a natural stop. Check the First Table website for discounts at restaurants across the city.

Sightseeing & shopping in London

For sightseeing, London’s museums are world-class and mostly free. Manon and Maia’s favourites are the Science Museum and Natural History Museum in South Kensington, and the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden. A walk along the Southbank from the Oxo Tower to the London Eye covers most major landmarks in one go. Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square are touristy but worth seeing, with statues of iconic film characters scattered around, from Harry Potter to Paddington Bear.

For shopping, Oxford Street covers everything; Selfridges, Carnaby Street, and Regent Street have a great mix of high-street shops, and Harrods in Knightsbridge is worth visiting even if you’re not buying. Columbia Road’s Sunday flower market is one of London’s best weekly rituals. And if you’re a sports fan, the Olympic Park in Stratford — with all the installations from the 2012 Games — is one of the city’s most underrated stops.

Getting to the circuit and moving around

If you’re travelling from London, the fastest option is a train from Euston Station to Milton Keynes or Northampton, which takes between 30 minutes and one hour, depending on the service. From there, the circuit runs organised shuttle buses that you can book online in advance. Coach services also run direct from Victoria Coach Station in London, though with traffic, the journey takes around 2.5 hours. Driving is an option, particularly if you plan to stay for the evening concerts, but traffic around the circuit can be a significant factor to consider.

If you’re staying closer to Silverstone, the official Shuttle Bus serves several nearby towns. Journey times from the shuttle stops are approximately: Towcester (15 min), Buckingham (20 min), Brackley (25 min), Sixfields (35 min), Northampton (40 min), Bicester (40 min), Hinton (40 min), Oxford Parkway (45 min), Milton Keynes (50 min), Banbury (50 min) and Coventry (80 min). Shuttle tickets are £16 per day, with three and four-day bundles available.

Accessibility in London & Silverstone

In terms of accessibility, London is not perfect — most Tube and train stations have lifts and escalators, but older buildings can be tricky to navigate. At the circuit, the picture is better. Every Silverstone staff member has received Disability Awareness training, and the venue offers wheelchair-accessible viewing areas, electric scooter and manual wheelchair hire, and one complimentary ticket for a PA or an accompanying friend for fans requiring full-time assistance. If you need anything on arrival, any staff member or the Duty Manager can help.

Is the British Grand Prix for me?

Although the location is not the most accessible, if you want to experience the energy of a Grand Prix, this is one that is hard to compare. Not only because of its history, but because of the great offering of entertainment, brand activations and access to London — one of the most exciting cities in the world with an even bigger entertainment offering during race week.

Ticket-wise, a one-day general admission starts at £50, grandstands from £369, with hospitality options from £499 and even a mystery seat, a reserved grandstand seat allocated at random to add some anticipation to your weekend. Always buy through official channels, such as the F1 Tickets Store or the circuit’s own platform, to avoid scams. For flights, it can be more accessible than you’d expect, for example, booking from Spain a week out costs around £100 return.

If you’re travelling solo, London is a very safe and welcoming city with excellent public transport and a highly international crowd. As in any major city, stay alert to petty theft in busy areas. If you’re travelling with kids, the free museums in South Kensington are a natural first stop, Hyde Park has a large playground with a pirate ship, and London’s central parks are at their best in summer, great for families and full of wildlife.

On weather, the British Grand Prix falls in early July, and while the country is currently in the middle of a heatwave, don’t let that fool you into leaving layers at home. Stay hydrated, wear light clothes, and bring sunscreen—but also pack a rain layer and something warmer, because a shower can come with very little warning and temperatures can shift quickly. Layers are always the right answer at Silverstone.

See it for yourself

Silverstone isn’t the most conveniently located venue on the calendar, and it will ask a little more of you logistically than a city-centre race. But that’s part of the deal, and what you get in return is hard to match.

The history and the atmosphere are unlike anything else on the calendar. And the combination of four days of on-track action, evening concerts that run late into the night, a week of brand activations in one of the world’s great cities, and a crowd that genuinely lives and breathes this sport adds up to something that’s difficult to put into words until you’ve been part of it.

If F1 ACADEMY is your focus, this weekend carries extra weight. It’s the series’s first-ever round at Silverstone, on one of the most iconic tracks in motorsport history, with a championship that is very much still alive heading into the second half of the season.

And when you’re standing in a field on Sunday evening, music still ringing in your ears, strangers who are now friends somewhere nearby, with the smell of race weekend all around you, you’ll understand why so many people come back to Silverstone year after year, and why this one is so hard to leave.

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The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, also known as The Race to the Clouds, is an annual automobile hillclimb to the summit of Pikes Peak in the U.S. state of Colorado. First held in 1916, it is one of the most famous races of its type in the world that sees manufacturers go head to head with small personal teams as everyone vies to make it to the top of the mountain in the quickest time possible.

With 156 corners, the track measures 12.42 miles and climbs 2862 metres from its starting point on grades averaging 7.2%. In the same way that the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the ultimate test for circuit endurance racing and the Dakar provides the same unique challenge to those in the off-road world, Pikes Peak is, well, the peak of hill climb racing.

This year, five women made up part of the seventy two entrants who would be taking on the challenge of Pikes Peak. Each one had raced at the mountain before but with only one attempt and with every driver only getting to drive the course in its entirety once, on race day, the pressure was well and truly on for everyone. Let’s see how they all got on.

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Laura Hayes

In her fourth year at Pikes Peak, Laura is competing this year in the Turbo Class in the Pikes Peak GT4 Trophy by Yokohama division. Driving a 2022 Toyota Supra GT4 EVO2, Laura was the top qualifier in her category, setting her up superbly for the big day on Sunday.

At the end of her run, Laura set a time of 10:17.538. At this point of the day, that time was enough to set a new fastest ever time for a woman at Pikes Peak. However, as we’ll get into below, that time would be beaten by another of the female competitors before the day was done.

“If you dedicate yourself to something you love, there’s no reason you can’t achieve big things. Outside of the race car, I’m honestly not the most confident human being ever. Inside the race car, you’re not going to stop me. Most of the work happens outside of the car, so that was an area I really had to work on. One day, I decided to take a chance on myself because I knew I could do it, and since then, I’ve become more comfortable putting myself up to a challenge that may be uncomfortable. The more you do it, the easier it gets. So take that chance, because you’ll regret it if you don’t.” - Laura Hayes, at the Women with Drive Event

However, there was great news for Laura elsewhere that day. Her time was good enough for P18 overall - incredibly good given how many entrants there were - and sent her to the top of her class. Hayes finished her fourth year at Pikes Peak in P1 in the Pikes Peak GT4 Trophy by Yokohama Class.

Tracy Gaudu

A United States Air Force Veteran who now works in vascular surgery and trauma services as a Physician Assistant, Tracy isn’t your regular run of the mill racing driver. In her second year competing in the Pikes Peak Open Class driving a 2008 Chevrolet Corvette ZO6, Tracy was one of two women returning to the mountain after their rookie year in 2025.

“The fact that you only get one shot at running the entire course makes Pikes Peak the ultimate test for any driver.” - Tracy Gaudu

Tracy set a time of 10:54.016 which was good enough for P36 overall and P6 in the Pikes Peak Open class.

Emilia Hartford

Also in her second year competing at Pikes Peak, Emilia was racing in the Time Attack 1 Class driving a 2026 Chevrolet Corvette. The YouTube and Social Media star has been immersing herself more and more into the automotive and motorsport world over the last decade and entered Pikes Peak for the first time in 2025.

Emilia made professional debut in the GT4 class at the 103rd Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, driving a Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport for the Mobil 1 race team.

After qualifying in pole position, Emilia finished second in class with a rookie time of 4 minutes 47.756 seconds on a shortened course (due to weather conditions) that ended at Glen Cove.

This year, Emilia just pipped Hayes by finishing in P17 overall while her time was good enough for P4 in the Time Attack 1 class. The aforementioned time, 10:11.018, meant that Emilia thus became the fastest woman in history to go up Pikes Peak. It’s an incredible achievement, especially in only her second year competing at the mountain.

Kathryn Mead

In her seventh year at Pikes Peak, Kathryn is a retired astrophysicist who also previously held the distinction of being the fastest woman ever to race a car at the iconic event in Colorado. Mead started racing when she was fifty-one years old and made her debut at Pikes Peak back in 2020. She was the only woman at the event that year and finished in third place in the Porsche Pikes Peak Trophy by Yokohama division alongside earning the Rookie of the Year honors.

“Driving back down after the race, the scenery above the tree line is just so overwhelming. It’s cognitive overload. Fortunately there’s someone to follow.” - Kathryn Mead

This year, Kathryn competed in the Time Attack 1 Class driving a 2019 Porsche GT2RS Clubsport. She finished in P30 overall and P9 in the Time Attack 1 class with a time of 10:38.163.

Ryan Cheek

Finally, there’s Ryan Cheek. In her third year, she competed in the Time Attack 1 Class driving a 2008 Ford Mustang FR500S. Cheek raced at Pikes Peak with a specific cause in mind - Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. It affects more than 32,000 people in the United States, with 5,000 new cases diagnosed annually.

Racing for ALS is a 501 3C, non-profit organization that raises awareness and funds through motorsports. All funds raised go directly to research facilities, Duke Neurology & ALS TDI, and Racing for ALS’s Patient Assistance Fund.

Cheek lost her father to the disease in April of 2020. In 2021, while at a Time Attack event at VIR, she learned about Racing for ALS and met its founder, Scott Lloyd, Jr. The rest is history.

“I’d encourage any woman hoping to pursue a career in motorsports to follow that passion! Absolutely anything is possible. Believe in yourself, be authentic, stay focused, be mindful of whom you surround yourself with, and know that it won’t always be easy.” - Ryan Cheek

Cheek finished in P61 overall and P13 in the Time Attack 1 with a time of 12:27.449. But there was always more to this particular run for Cheek than just going fast and putting the best possible time on the board.

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As the first of its kind all-electric racing series, Formula E has always prided itself on pushing the boundaries of what is possible. This has been most evident in the constant evolution of its race car, which has come a long way since the series first went racing back in 2014. Gone are the days when drivers needed to return to the pits mid-race in order to swap cars as their first one had run out of electrical power.

But one area where Formula E has had mixed results is in the number of women competing in the series. In the first two seasons of the sport, we did see female drivers in equal machinery to their male counterparts from one race weekend to the next. However, since the second season of Formula E back in 2015/2016, we’ve not had any full-time or part-time drivers.

Formula E does seem to be working at making progress on this front, though. This has been shown with the recent addition of both the all-female test sessions and the inclusion of more female drivers in the rookie Formula E test sessions. With the driver market for next season set to ramp up soon, we thought it was the perfect time to look back at the women who have already competed in the all-electric racing series as well as those who have taken to the track under test conditions. While they will have been the first, hopefully they won’t be the last, and perhaps one or two that have made headlines for the teams in recent sessions will be in contention for a full-time seat on the grid next season.

Before then, let’s familiarise ourselves with the women who have competed so far in Formula E.

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Simona de Silvestro

Simona de Silvestro competed in the first two seasons of Formula E in 2014/2015 and 2015/2016. She was one of eight drivers to compete for the Andretti Autosport Formula E Team in that inaugural season. While Jean Eric Vergne was the mainstay driver for the majority of that season, the second seat in the team rotated on an almost round-by-round basis. De Silverstro came into the Championship for the final double header in London as part of this. Finishing just outside of the points in P11 and P12 across the last two races of the season, de Silvestro put up a fair performance in a series she’d only just been brought into.

Simona then returned for the following season with the now-renamed team of Amlin Andretti. She had two points finishes that season with a P9 finish in Long Beach and another P9 finish in Berlin. de Silvestro finished the season in eighteenth place overall and would not be retained for the following season.

However, de Silvestro would return to Formula E in 2018 for a test session in Saudi Arabia and then again in 2024 for the all-women’s test session held in Jarama, where she drove for what is now Cupra Kiro.

Michela Cerruti

Michela Cerruti competed in the first season of Formula E held across 2014 and 2015 for the Trulli Formula E Team. Cerruti competed in the first four races of the year and, while there, was sadly unable to rack up any points to her name. Her best result in that stint was a P12 finish in Uruguay. After this, she was replaced in the team for the majority of the rest of the season by Vitantonio Liuzzi. He himself only managed to achieve one point-scoring finish in his brief tenure, with a P9 finish in Berlin. He was then replaced by Alex Fontana who didn’t score any points at the final round of the series’ first season in London.

Katherine Legge

Katherine Legge was another woman who competed in the inaugural season of Formula E back in 2014/2015. Legge would only be in the two opening rounds of that season, which took place in Beijing and Uruguay. She had back-to-back P15 finishes for the Amlin Aguri Team before they replaced her with Mexico’s Salvador Duran. He went on to finish in the points on three occasions with a best finish of sixth in Moscow. Like de Silvestro, Legge would return for the test session in Saudi Arabia in 2018.

Test and Reserve Drivers

Since Formula E’s second season, there haven’t been any full-time or even part-time female drivers in the series. What the sport has lacked on this front, it has begun to counter by hosting three test sessions (two all-female) where a number of female racers of varied experiences from across the motorsport world have taken part, which has then been bolstered further by the presence of more female drivers in this year’s rookie test session in Madrid.

The first of these test sessions came back in 2018 in Ad Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. Nine women took part on that occasion: Pippa Mann, Amna Al Qubaisi, Carrie Schreiner, Carmen Jordá, Beitske Visser, Jamie Chadwick, Simona de Silvestro, Tatiana Calderon and Katherine Legge. Jordá and Man finished the session in the top ten in their shared cars while Simona de Silvestro would finish as the highest placed female driver in P14.

Then, in 2024, Formula E announced the first all-female test session to be held in Jarama, Spain. Each team on the grid ran at least one female driver for the occasion. As before, there was a wide breadth and depth to the experience of each of the drivers taking to the track.

Jaguar TCS Racing had both Jamie Chadwick and Lilou Wadoux in their team, while TAG Heuer Porsche ran Gabriela Jilkova and Marta Garcia. DS PENSKE opted for Jessica Edgar and Beitske Visser, while Nissan was only able to run Abbi Pulling in their car after Sophia Flörsh had to pull out of the session at the last minute. Andretti selected Chloe Chambers and Nerea Marti, while Envision Racing took the youth of Alisha Palmowski and the experience of Alice Powell into their team for the session. NEOM McLaren was competing in Formula E at the time and took former and current McLaren Academy drivers Bianca Bustamante and Ella Lloyd into the fold as part of this. Maserati MSG Racing selected Tatiana Calderon and Carrie Schreiner, while Lola Yamaha ABT, Mahindra Racing, and Kiro Race Co. all had one driver each - Miki Koyama, Lena Buehler and Simona de Silvestro, respectively.

Abbi Pulling would be the quickest from the group, with Jamie Chadwick close behind her and Bianca Bustamante completing the top three.

Last year then saw the second running of the all-women’s test. DS Penske retained Jessica Edgar, but this time partnered her with Lindsay Brewer. Alice Powell returned once more to Envision Racing but was joined this time by Ella Lloyd. Abbi Pulling was once more in the session with Nissan, while Tatiana Calderon drove for Citroen, while Nerea Marti was the sole driver at Andretti. Jamie Chadwick was another name to return for the session, still with Jaguar TCS Racing but alongside Juju Noda on this occasion. Gabriela Jilkova and Janina Schall teamed up with Porsche and Lola Yamaha ABT, Mahindra Racing and Cupra Kiro, all opted for one driver each in Marta Garcia, Chloe Chambers and Bianca Bustamante, respectively.

It was Chloe Chambers this time out who would be the fastest driver out on track. But Abbi Pulling was hot on her heels, just 0.004 of a second behind her. Once again, Bianca Bustamante rounded out the top three.

Earlier this year, an all-Rookie Test was held in Madrid and saw a mix of male and female drivers for the session. There were four female drivers in total, all of which had prior Formula E experience: Bianca Bustamante, Ella Lloyd, Juju Noda and Abbi Pulling. Pulling would once again be the quickest of the female drivers taking part and finished in P11 overall.

Looking Ahead

Opel joins the Formula E grid next season. While they still debate who they’ll sign to race for them full time, they have made one decision in signing Sophia Flörsh as their Test and Reserve Driver. Coming to the team with a wealth of experience from Formula 3, DTM, the European Le Mans Series, Indy NXT and more, it’s a no-brainer why they decided to make Flörsh part of the team. One has to wonder, though, why they didn’t decide to make her the first full-time Formula E driver in over a decade.

While the test sessions, as well as Flörsh’s Opel appointment, have been steps in the right direction, many are still left wondering why none of the teams has signed any of these drivers to race for them across a full season. The talent is clearly there. But there’s no substitute for experience, and the only way that any of these women will get any is if they’re given the opportunity to. They’ve placed themselves in the best position possible, given the limited opportunities available to them to be chosen for a full season of racing. Now it’s up to the teams to take the next step.

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The 24 Hours of Le Mans is more than the pinnacle of endurance racing or a coveted leg of the Triple Crown. Beyond the technical demands and on-track unpredictability, the event in La Sarthe, which concluded its 94th edition this past weekend, holds a rich history of female representation.

Since the inaugural race in 1923, 64 women have taken the start, including 27 all-female crews and a record 10 female entrants in 1935 alone. In recent years, the grid has featured highly competitive all-female line-ups, with the Iron Dames emerging as one of the most recognisable names in the paddock.

But 2026 presented a different reality. Only two female drivers debuted in the main event, alongside a handful of appearances in the Road to Le Mans support series and a few familiar faces making history throughout the week.

Despite the lower numbers, every woman has a story of reaching one of the most demanding endurance events in the world. This piece not only chronicles how their weekend unfolded, but celebrates their journey to — or return to — the pinnacle of endurance racing.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans Explained

The 24 Hours of Le Mans can feel daunting to watch. If you relate, here is a quick explainer on how the event operates.

The Track

Drivers tackle the Circuit de la Sarthe, an 8.4-mile (13.6 km) layout in France blending a permanent racing facility with ordinary public roads. Organisers shut down local streets to create high-speed sections like the famous Mulsanne Straight.

The Three Classes

Le Mans features three different categories of cars competing simultaneously. Teams fight for a class victory, while the fastest contenders aim for the overall win. In 2026, the 62-car grid were broken down into the following:

• Hypercar (18 cars): The top tier. Manufacturers like Ferrari, Toyota, Cadillac, Aston Martin, and more build bespoke prototypes to chase overall victory. As the fastest machines on the grid, they often feature hybrid technology.

• LMP2 (19 cars): The second prototype tier (Le Mans Prototype 2). Every team uses the Oreca 07 chassis and a standard Gibson V8 engine. With standardised hardware, success comes down entirely to strategy and driver skill. Line-ups with a Bronze driver have their own specific ranking: LMP2 Pro/Am.

• LMGT3 (25 cars): Based on supercars from brands like Porsche, McLaren, and Corvette, these vehicles are heavily modified for competition. They are the slowest class but regularly deliver the tightest wheel-to-wheel racing.

Since the World Endurance Championship (WEC) dropped LMP2 from its full-season calendar after 2023, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the only race of the year where all three classes still share the track.

The 2026 Format

Race week still progressed from practice to qualifying, but qualifying in Le Mans is a beast of its own. This year, organisers introduced a high-stakes, three-part format.

Every car participated in a 30-minute qualifying session on Wednesday. Only the top 15 Hypercars and top 12 cars in the lower classes advanced, with Hyperpole 1 and Hyperpole 2 trimming the field even further.

The defining change for 2026 involved driver allocation. The driver who qualified the car on Wednesday could not drive in Hyperpole 1. Furthermore, anyone who drove in the first two sessions was restricted from driving in Hyperpole 2.

This forced teams to rely on the outright pace of their entire three-driver lineup rather than leaning on a single qualifying specialist.

The Only Two Women Racing In The 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans main event featured just two female drivers, alongside a handful who joined the Road to Le Mans support series.

Doriane Pin: LMP2 (Duqueine Team)

The 2025 F1 ACADEMY Champion and current Mercedes Development Driver is no stranger to endurance racing. She joined the Iron Dames programme in 2021 and quickly built an impressive track record.

At 17, the French racer debuted alongside Manuela Gostner in the 2021 Michelin Le Mans Cup (MLMC) and secured five podium finishes in her first six races. In 2022, she dominated the Ferrari Challenge Europe Series, winning nine of 14 races to secure the Trofeo Pirelli with a round to spare.

The 2026 event marked her third overall appearance at Le Mans. She debuted in the LMP2 class with Prema Racing in 2023, but broken ribs forced her to withdraw from Iron Dames’s LMGT3 entry just weeks before the race. The “Pocket Rocket” then sat out the following year to focus entirely on her F1 ACADEMY campaign.

Driving in the ultra-competitive LMP2 category with Duqueine Team, Doriane and her teammates held the lead for 21 hours, while she consistently clocked some of the fastest lap times on the grid. Unfortunately, to win at Le Mans, you must first finish. A front brake disc failure turned what looked like a guaranteed victory into a painful DNF.

Lilou Wadoux: LMGT3 (Richard Mille AF Corse)

Lilou is the first woman in Ferrari’s storied history to hold the prestigious role of an official Ferrari factory driver.

Behind the wheel, her adaptability speaks for itself. She became the first woman to win the LMP2 class in the American IMSA series (at the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen) and the first to score a podium in Japan’s highly competitive Super GT championship (GT300 class).

By winning the LMGTE Am class alongside her teammates at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in 2023, she also became the first female driver to win an FIA WEC class race since the championship was formed in 2012.

The 2026 event marked her fourth Le Mans appearance. Competing in LMGT3 with Richard Mille AF Corse, the French driver anchored a fierce recovery drive with relentless night stints. By Sunday morning, her pace in the darkness had pulled the #150 Ferrari into the battle for a top-ten result. They crossed the finish line to secure an eighth-place finish in their class.

Road to Le Mans Series

After running as two sprint races in previous seasons, the flagship round of the MLMC adopted a three-hour endurance format for the first time. This support series ran shortly before the main race on Saturday.

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Léna Bühler: LMP3 (R-ace GP)

The inaugural F1 ACADEMY Vice Champion traded the traditional single-seater ladder for a successful pivot to endurance racing.

In 2025, Bühler became the first woman to win in the MLMC — a standout moment during her debut year in LMP3 prototypes. Driving for 23Events Racing, she also secured fifth-place finishes at both Spa and Silverstone, claiming seventh in her class by the end of the season.

Her return to the 2026 Road to Le Mans proved frustrating. Constant stoppages broke up the three-hour race, including multiple Slow Zones, Full Course Yellows, and a 20-minute Safety Car period triggered by the #97 CLX Motorsport Ligier’s heavy crash at the Porsche Curves.

Reuniting with R-ace GP alongside Zack Scoular in the #86 Duqueine D09, the fragmented running made it difficult to find a rhythm. In the end, they finished 13th in class and currently sit eighth in the standings.

Denise Yeung: LMP3 Pro-Am (Team Virage)

The Hong Kong native broke new ground for Asian representation in European endurance racing as the first Chinese woman to compete in the Road to Le Mans. The 2026 event marked her debut at the Circuit de la Sarthe and her first-ever Le Mans Cup round.

A mother of three in her 50s, Yeung entered the race to show her children that “age is just a number.” She spent over a decade racing in Asian touring cars and GT series, including stints in the all-female Kyojo Cup and Chinese F4.

Partnering with one of the category’s strongest organisations, Team Virage, Yeung shared an LMP3 Pro-Am entry with British driver Theo Micouris. Unfortunately, the Hong Kong driver sustained injuries from an accident in Free Practice 1. With regulations mandating that both drivers share driving duties for the main race, the team was forced to withdraw before the start.

Other Appearances

Beyond those racing in the main and support series, there were a few other memorable moments from the weekend worth mentioning.

Jamie Chadwick: Reserve Driver (Genesis Magma Racing)

Since December 2024, the three-time W Series champion has been part of Genesis Magma Racing’s Trajectory Programme. Genesis represents Hyundai’s luxury division, with Genesis Magma Racing serving as the brand’s official in-house factory team for endurance racing.

Alongside her hypercar driver and development role, she was announced as the team’s reserve driver for their WEC campaign this year.

During Test Day, she made history in the Hypercar class by completing five laps in the #17 GMR-001-Hypercar. The run marks a step up from her LMP2 appearance with IDEC Sport at last year’s event.

Sarah Bovy: Grand Marshal for 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans

The Belgian native is one of the most successful figures in modern endurance racing. Best known for her role with the all-female Iron Dames outfit, she has anchored the team’s lineups for years across the WEC, European Le Mans Series, and GT World Challenge Europe.

With Iron Dames, she has achieved several historic milestones. In 2022, Bovy became the first woman to claim pole in WEC at Monza. A year later, she played an instrumental role in the team’s historic victory as an all-female squad in Bahrain.

Speaking of Le Mans, Bovy has contested the legendary endurance race five times. This year, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest — the creator and organising body behind the event — appointed her as Grand Marshal. As part of her role, Bovy had the honour of setting the pace for the 62 cars on the grid during the starting procedure.

A Dip In Numbers

By the numbers, the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans featured a much stronger female presence and a flurry of firsts compared to this year.

In the main event, Jamie Chadwick made her Le Mans debut with IDEC Sport, becoming the first woman to race in the LMP2 class since 2022. Lilou Wadoux made her third career appearance in LMGT3, representing Richard Mille AF Corse. Meanwhile, the Iron Dames fielded an all-female crew of Rahel Frey, Célia Martin, and Sarah Bovy, racing a Porsche 911 GT3 R in LMGT3.

In the Road to Le Mans support series, two drivers made their debuts in the flagship MLMC round. Léna Bühler made history as the first woman to win a race overall in the series, taking victory in the #50 Ligier JS P325 for 23Events Racing alongside teammate Matteo Quintarelli during her rookie campaign in LMP3 machinery.

Canadian racing driver and team owner Samantha Tan, 27, secured strong sixth and fourth-place finishes in her first-ever Road to Le Mans appearance. She teamed up with Swedish driver Gustav Bergstrom in the #38 BMW M4 GT3 run by Team WRT.

Still, this year’s dip in numbers shouldn’t dilute the magnitude of each racer reaching one of the world’s most demanding endurance events. After all, the 24 Hours of Le Mans has seen 64 women take the start, including 27 all-female crews — an encouraging reminder that Le Mans is always ready to embrace anyone up for the challenge.

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Drawing from nearly 13,000 fans across 147 countries and over 70 industry experts, More Than Equal’s 2023 report, “Inside Track: Exploring the Gender Gap in Motorsport.” tell a clear story. Women make up just 10% of participants across all motorsport categories. Their careers are also significantly shorter, averaging one to five years, compared to over 12 years for men.

In Asia, female representation remains exceptionally rare. To date, no Asian female driver has participated in an official Formula 1 competitive session. The number of active Asian female drivers competing in regional FIA-sanctioned single-seater championships hovers in the single digits at any given time.

Ananya Srinidhi, co-founder of Hairpin Media, is painfully aware of this reality. Despite Formula 1’s success across Asia, she realised how little fans know about the feeder series below it or parallel championships in different machinery.

“The problem really arises when we have all this talent from Asia doing incredibly well but don’t get recognition because nobody knows, media doesn’t pick it up, no earned media, no visibility, no sponsors, and ultimately you get an unfulfilled career,” said Ananya. “From a nation-building standpoint, the nation misses out the opportunity to showcase its own athletes and its position in the global sporting circle.”

She helped form Hairpin Media to fix this visibility gap. From storytelling to digital identity-building, the design-led B2B editorial platform captures the data and stories of Asian motorsport talent. Today, the platform nurtures rising drivers like Kareen Kaur, Abhay Mohan, Ary Bansal, Jaden Immanuel, and more.

Discovering Her Passion For Racing

Ananya’s earliest memory of motorsports traces back to her dad reading Schumacher-in-Red newspaper headlines aloud. While she hasn’t missed a Formula 1 season since 2008, her passion for racing truly ignited when she tried go-karting. Even at local, independent events where she was often the only girl on the grid, that reality never dulled her drive to race.

“Honestly, I observed that I was the only girl on the grid, the only girl spending weekends watching races, or talking about it in school. However, I never focused on that aspect of what I enjoyed,” said Ananya. “When I was on track, I didn’t care who I was racing against. Off-track, I share the industry with others. I take every win as a proper win, and a loss as any other loss someone else would have.”

Though a professional racing career wasn’t feasible, Ananya never stopped chasing her vision. Arcs Racing became her first real exposure to the business side of the sport — navigating money, decision-makers, sponsors, and people paying for an experience.

Working closely with Ali YH, team principal of Kartkrew Motorsports, she learned not only how to operate within Indian motorsports but also how to do so with empathy and ethics. Little did she know that learning how to treat a driver paying for track time or someone chasing a dream they could barely afford would become the foundation Hairpin Media was built on.

While Arcs Racing grounded her in the business, SportWalk kept Ananya connected to the bigger picture. Reporting on Formula 1 across different editorial teams for nearly five years trained a different muscle, one that would also be useful to her work at Hairpin Media.

Starting Hairpin Media

While racing was her passion, Ananya took a different path upon graduating from college. Stepping into the corporate world before returning to motorsports gave her the foundations she needed to build Hairpin Media.

“A stint in the corporate world taught me process, discipline and big thinking. These, I believe, are fundamentals that develop you as a founder.”

Co-founding Hairpin Media, however, was about chasing a much bigger vision. To address the lack of visibility for Asian talent, the company was built to solve a specific piece of the equation: capturing the data and stories behind Asian motorsports. Today, Hairpin does far more — its sister brands allow the team to work across a wider range of sports and sectors.

The Challenges For Women To Break Into the Asian Motorsport Industry

Research by More Than Equal highlights a stark participation and performance gap across all categories of motorsport. Women make up just 10% of participants on average, peaking at 13% in karting before plummeting to a mere 7% in Formula and GT Racing.

Addressing the lack of female representation in Asia, Ananya shares:

It ultimately comes down to equal access to opportunity. According to Ananya, a male and female driver with identical results and career trajectories will rarely receive the same financial backing from a sponsor.

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Then, there’s the cost. Competitiveness in a race car directly correlates to track time, which is inevitably proportional to money spent. Beyond financial commitments, young Asian drivers aspiring to climb the single-seater ladder must also navigate immense personal sacrifices. Think skipping school, funding race-specific training, travel, equipment, and testing — all for the reward of a few Super License points.

“If you win, the risk is that you will need to commit the same way year after year in the hope that either a sponsor finds your journey inspiring or an F1 Team Academy is watching. Both are as good as finding a needle in a haystack.”

Globally, female athletes secure just a fraction of motorsport sponsorship dollars. Add in a racing landscape that remains heavily Euro-centric, and female drivers in Asia face an even steeper climb to attract financial backing.

“It is also far harder to convince a neutral, non-female brand to put in ad dollars into a woman in sport compared to banking on a male athlete. That’s now slowly shifting for the better and we’ve seen it with Kareen. However, not as rapidly as we would like it.”

The Future of Women Racing in Asia and Beyond

Throughout the sport’s history, none of the 28 Asian drivers to race in Formula 1 has been a woman. The five women who have participated in a Grand Prix weekend all hailed from Europe or South Africa — underscoring the exact gap initiatives like F1 ACADEMY and the FIA are trying to bridge. Ananya sheds light on the reality for young girls pursuing a motorsports career in Asia today.

F1 Academy, created to give women a stepping stone up the single-seater ladder, hasn’t featured a locally developed Asian driver since Bianca Bustamante raced in the series for McLaren during the 2023 and 2024 season — nor has an Asian driver participated in the F1 Academy Rookie test.

When evaluating current programmes designed to build the female talent pipeline, the Hairpin Media co-founder notes they still fall short in supporting young Asian drivers. More Than Equal, for instance, has operated for over three years but has only backed one Asian talent: Katrina Ee.

What concrete, structural shifts does Asian motorsports actually need to create more opportunities for women in the region?

“Government or majority state-owned multinational entities should treat motorsports the same as any other sport or athlete. There also needs to be a consistent effort made to bring international talents to Asia so our athletes have a proper benchmark.”

Ananya adds:

“I would love to see promoters put real muscle into marketing the general audience to karting races, GT races, and more — especially in countries that are in a position to host championships.”

Most importantly, audience footfall isn’t just a vanity metric, she stresses. It provides tangible value for drivers — boosting morale and translating directly into commercial leverage for securing sponsorships. Consistently strong turnouts ensure sustainable growth for the local motorsports scene, which ultimately paves the way for more Asian talent to break through.

Ultimately, the silver lining is that out on the track, nothing else matters.

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Maya Weug is one of those drivers who, from the outside, you’d think would have no trouble securing sponsorship. The Dutch-Belgian driver born in Alicante, Spain, is one of the most talented young women in motorsport today. Inspired by the Pixar film Cars and seeing her dad enjoy karting on weekends, she got her own kart at seven and hasn’t stopped racing since.

Wherever she competes, she leaves a mark: from beating the likes of Kimi Antonelli and Gabriele Bortoletto at WSK in her early years, to becoming the first woman ever to join the Ferrari Driver Academy, to finishing Vice Champion in her final F1 Academy season. This year, in her debut GT season, she’s stepped onto the podium in both of her first two rounds.

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Talent And Results Are Not Enough

Maya’s results speak clearly. But that, as she’ll tell you, is not enough. And it’s not just her who’s struggling. Historically, women’s sports have received just 1% of global sports sponsorship dollars. In motorsport, the percentage is even lower. And although the market is undergoing a significant shift, with more brands starting to genuinely support female drivers, it is still not enough.

We sat down with Maya to talk about this reality and to know the woman behind the helmet. We talked about the shift from F1 dreams to Le Mans ambitions and what drove that change. About what she learned inside the Ferrari Driver Academy and F1 Academy, and what happens when that support disappears. About the solidarity between the drivers who’ve come out the other side of F1 Academy, all navigating the same uncertainty together. And about what she wishes people really understood about the life of a racing driver.

Watch the full interview now and follow her journey through her socials.

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Clara Stiebleichinger is an Austrian Formula 4 driver currently competing in the French Formula 4 Championship. Following an epic birthday present where she got to test Formula 4 machinery for the first time, the young Austrian was essentially set on her path down the motorsport road.

With no time competing in karting and instead a stint in the Indian Racing League, Clara has taken an unconventional but fascinating route into the racing world so far and that has continued into this year as she plans to capitalize on her capabilities behind the wheel while unlocking more of her potential for the future. We caught up recently to talk about this, what it’s been like to compete in French Formula 4 so far this season, her plans and ambitions for the future and much more.

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“It was really impressive also to drive an F4 car and to feel like you’re in an F1 car and be like, oh my god, this is so cool!” - Clara Stiebleichinger

Thiemo: What first got you interested in motorsport?

Clara: I started watching F1 with my Dad at a very young age. The first bits of what I remember is from the times where Sebastian Vettel was winning. My Dad always watched it and I was just joining him and I started to really get into it in 2017. Since then I just kind of watched every race, every qualifying, and I also created a friend group of mine and got everyone into it.

Then in 2021 it was the first time that I went to see F1 in real life in Austria, in Spielberg and it just, it really inspired me. I just love all the adrenaline and everything.

I think it’s like my path is kind of unusual because I feel like everyone starts with karting, but I never had that. So I just got into it with my Dad and then later on for my 18th birthday, I got a birthday present where I could try out a Formula car in France for one week.

It was a shootout programme. However, we kind of didn’t know that before. So we just came there and thought, oh yeah, I’ll have a week of fun with the F4.

Later on I talked with the team and told them that I would be really interested in working in F1. I asked if they can give me tips on how to achieve that. And then they told me, yeah, you should try to become a driver because there are not a lot of girls and I feel like they thought I have potential.

So that’s how everything kind of started.

Thiemo: Quite a good birthday present to get. To just go and test out an F4 car. How did that week go, how was the experience? Because like you said, that was your first time in. What was all that like?

Clara: Well, to be honest, everyone was so professional there. Like everyone came from karting or even did already F4 tests before.

So I was kind of like the only one who was new to everything. And I was like, oh, what an environment and everything. And the first couple of days, I just kind of enjoyed it.

And I thought it’s just an amazing experience. And then when I got to know everyone, they were really competitive and of course wanted to win that. But for me, I kind of didn’t have the feeling of winning this. But of course, I tried to improve as well. And yeah, at the end of the week, I was definitely not the fastest, but it was a lot of fun. And I really kind of got into it.

And it was really impressive also to drive an F4 car and to feel like you’re in an F1 car and be like, oh my god, this is so cool! And everything. So, it was a great week.

Thiemo: Was it during that week? Or was it before when you’re watching Formula One with your Dad that you decided that you wanted to go down this route and become a racing driver?? Or were you thinking about a different role maybe?

Clara: Well, I would say it was definitely after the week. Because still after the week, I was thinking, okay, I won’t become a racing driver. But all the experiences were great.

But then when I talked more with the team, they were more and more encouraging me to keep going. And they offered me winter tests. And that’s when step by step, I realised, okay, I might actually become a racing driver. And that was really unreal. So it was definitely after the week.

Thiemo: I was just thinking that first week, like you say, where you’re maybe just thinking it’s a bit of fun, not expecting anything from it. And then I think, now we could say it’s escalated a little bit.

Clara: Yeah, that’s true!

Thiemo: Last year, there’s two bits I want to talk to you about. One of them you mentioned already, which was the testing. What was that like? Because you say you went into this week, it’s a birthday present, you’re having fun and then suddenly you’re in the more serious environment, let’s say, you’re testing. So do you have any expectations of what you wanted to achieve from that? And was that different from what other people wanted from you? Or were you just treating it as I wasn’t expecting to be here?

Clara: Yeah, I think the first winter tests, I did them in the Gen 1 car. So not the Gen 2, but the Gen 1. And I feel like that I was still treating those tests like having fun.

I feel like my expectations were not that high. I was just like, okay, I give my best, I do my best. But in the end, I mean, I knew that I don’t have the experience like everybody else.

And I knew that I don’t have such high expectations for myself. I feel like that came later on. And also my parents were not really having high expectations.

I feel like they never even thought that we would be in this situation. But I feel like the team had expectations on me, but they were never pressuring me or anything. I just knew that they were like, yes, Clara, we know you can do that.

And they were like, I mean, also encouraging, but I knew that their expectations were probably higher than mine.

Thiemo: Did you find that that approach for you as well meant that you felt under less pressure from both yourself and them? So you were able to perform potentially better than if you were stressing and feeling like you had to meet certain expectations. Do you think that helps you perform better? Or are you someone who you need the pressure and you want the stress? And that’s what helps you?

Clara: Well, I feel like there needs to be a good balance between both of them because I feel like the first test we did, the team told me kind of like, yeah, you have to perform there. Because if you’re not fast, we’re not going to continue with this. Which obviously makes sense. So I feel like that was the first time that I had pressure. But when it went well, I feel like everybody was just relieved.

And then there was like no pressure at all anymore. And I could just really enjoy it. And I feel like that helped a lot. Because I feel like if you’re always just stressed out about it, then you feel like you have to perform. And that makes you make more mistakes, maybe. So I feel like I didn’t have that pressure at all in the beginning of those winter tests last year.

Thiemo: You went and competed in Indian F4, which is a whole other adventure in itself. So tell me all about that, because that must have been quite surreal.

Clara: Yeah, so since I did the shootout programme and all the testings with a French team, it was always the goal to go to French F4. But we knew that I have zero experience with racing and everything. So of course, we said, OK, I have to do something before because going into French F4 with zero experience would be not good for myself and for everyone around.

So we said, OK, we need to find a championship that’s, let’s say, relatively cheap. And also, I wouldn’t say the level is less, but there were for sure less people because in the European championships, they’re always competing at least 30 drivers or more, like in Italian, in Spanish, in French. And what was also really important is that the championship was driven with the Miguel car and not the Tatus because I was only used to that car.

So what came into our mind was the Indian championship because we found it and that’s where I went. And it was so good to gain all the experience and everything with how a race weekend works, how I overtake, how I defend, how a start goes and everything because I’ve never done karting again. So it’s like, I don’t know how it really works and I need to gain that experience.

Thiemo: There’s not many people I talk to that get into motorsport without any karting. So it’s quite an interesting perspective to get.

Clara: Yeah, exactly! So that’s the main reason why we did that. And in the end, it turned out to be a really good experience. And also the start up field is way less people. So we were about 15 or 16 people instead of 30 people, which makes everything a bit easier as well and less chaotic. So, yeah. Just as well, competing, completely different continent, completely different country.

Thiemo: Had you ever been to India before or was this your first time?

Clara: Yeah, no, I have never been to India before. My parents have been there before, but only for the holidays. So, of course, the country itself is really different from Europe, from what we’re used to. The people are different, their culture, their food and stuff.

So I kind of had to get used to it, especially the food, I would say, because they eat really spicy food.

Thiemo: Are you good with spicy food?

Clara: No, not at all! I kind of had to get my own food there. But in the end, to be honest, we were only there between the racetrack and our hotel. So I have not seen that much from India and we didn’t really have time to do some sightseeing. But it was definitely something that I had to get used to as well. And also the climate is different, like the weather and one weekend we had 40 degrees and it was humid like crazy so it was physically also a bit more exhausting.

Thiemo: Performance-wise as well, I think you had a highest finish of P4, so just off the podium. Was that something, like you say, you didn’t necessarily have expectations, but did you kind of want that podium a bit more after you got that people going close or were you just like, this is great people?

Clara: Yeah, well, I feel like I went there with really zero expectations. My parents went there with zero expectations. Everyone around me was like, okay, you’re just there to gain experience.

And then the first two weekends were incredible. Also performance-wise, like I finished my first race, I think P8 and then the second P6. So it was like going forward really quickly.

So of course I was really happy about the results. And then what you’re speaking of P4 was the first time that I was kind of frustrated with the result because I was really, really, really close to the podium. And I knew I could have been on the podium, but I made my own mistakes.

But now looking back at it, of course it’s like an amazing result. And I feel like I could have never imagined to be in that situation like ever. And so I just reached from no expectations to expectations of having a podium.

So I feel like that’s already a big step. So I can just be happy and proud of what I achieved.

Thiemo: Then obviously this year you’re competing in French F4. Why this championship in particular?

Clara: Again, it was probably because I worked already with a French team before.

So as I said, now I have to take this step to go to Europe to compete there because it’s the best level. They have great championships and everything. So I feel like the French championship was just because I was working with the team and was used to that car. So that was the first thing.

“For next year, my goal would be to go to the F1 Academy. I think it’s just a great way to get visibility and also to compete with the best women in this field.” - Clara Stiebleichinger

Thiemo: And then at the opening round already in Nogaro, how did that go from your perspective?

Clara: Quite a long weekend. Yeah, really long weekend. I’m super happy with the weekend overall. I think really a lot of positive things to take away. I feel like this year the level is really high. Really, really close as well with the gaps. Like from P1 to P22, we were in one second. So that’s incredible. But of course, I want to learn from the best and with the best. So it’s great to be in that pack. I think my qualifying performance, I have to get a bit of a step in qualifying performance.

However, I was still happy with the qualifying as well because I mean, one second from pole is not bad. Especially when it’s covering so many drivers as well.

Thiemo: It’s like the smallest thing here, the smallest thing there. Sometimes it’s just bad luck that you just don’t quite get it at the right angle.

Clara: Exactly. So I was just a bit unfortunate to be at the end of that pack. But then with the races, I had good starts, good opening laps with overtakes, defending. I mean, the second race was only with safety cars.

We had four safety cars. Yeah, that was a bit crazy. But especially the first race, it was great.

I overtook. I defended and just everything again to learn and everything. And then just the last race, I had an amazing start. I have to say it was the best I’ve done! But I got involved in an incident, so I had to retire. That was a bit of a shame to end the weekend like that.

But overall, I’m pretty happy. I did two female podiums and then two top 15 finishes. So that’s what I expected, to be honest.

Thiemo: I’m curious what, if anything, did you learn from when you were racing in India that’s helped you perform already in French F4? Is there something in particular that you’ve thought, oh, I’ve dealt with this before or there’s a better way of handling it that I now know about?

Clara: Yeah, I think what helped me a lot is just to be used to having cars around. Obviously, in the testing, you’re just alone. You’re driving on your own.

You’re just doing your thing. I remember also in India, that was the first thing I had to learn is having cars around and being so close to cars to follow them to make a move and stuff. So that helped for sure. And I feel like it also took a bit of my nerves before the first race. I mean, of course, I was excited and everything, but I felt like I was not so stressed out because I know how a start works. I know that it’s going to be crazy in the first lap.

So I feel like that experience from India was really, really helpful. And so I was just not being stressed out when three cars are wide or someone is so close to me. I’m not like being, oh my God, that car is too close to me. But moreover, I know how to handle the situation.

Thiemo: Looking ahead at the rest of the season, do you have any particular goals or ambitions that you want to achieve or are you simply taking it one race weekend at a time?

Clara: Of course, I’m just looking forward to the next race. I think we have great tracks like Spa and also Paul Riccard where we’re going. So I’m really, really excited for those tracks as well.

Next race will be in Dijon. So I’m just looking forward to them. But of course, one of the main goals would definitely be scoring points. At some point, we’ll see. I feel like now that the first race went so well, my expectations may be a bit higher than before. And since there are also like 10 women in our championship, we kind of have the women championship as well.

So this is like a side thing that I want to win as well. So, yeah.

Thiemo: What are your dreams, ambitions for the future? Do you have a particular end goal in mind or are you just still very much let’s just see what happens?

Clara: I’m kind of open to a lot of things, I would say. For next year, my goal would be to go to the F1 Academy. I think it’s just a great way to get visibility and also to compete with the best women in this field.

So I would be very excited to go there. However, of course, I’m not sure how this will work out or not because there are lots of women who do now like more seasons than two or something. So they’re not like a lot of places like it was this year because this year there were a lot of people. There are lots of rookies this year, but still like this would be the goal for next year and then just keep learning from there. I mean, looking forward to going to F3 or F2, I just think like, of course, it would be amazing.

But of course, it’s also a question of budget and everything. So I kind of see myself wherever, like I just want to go forward and see how I can progress, what I can do, but I would be open as well to do some GT racing or endurance racing. So I’m pretty open about whatever comes next.

Thiemo: And do you have a favourite motorsport memory so far?

Clara: Well, from racing side wise, I would say just. I don’t know, it’s just being in the car, it’s just being in the car. And I always have the joy of racing and have the adrenaline.

I really enjoyed racing as well on like F1 tracks like Spa or Paul Ricard. It’s an amazing feeling to know, OK, like F1 drivers have driven here before and now it’s me as well. And one of my favourite moments was definitely also just the first race in India.

After I was done and the first race was in rain. So yeah, and I just remember the feeling of just, oh my God, I did it. And I could have never imagined that even a year ago or a couple of months before.

Thiemo: So I feel like that was the first race in India, single seaters in the rain, opt-in finish. That’s not too bad.

Clara: No, exactly! So I feel like that’s one of my favourite moments.

Thiemo: On the other side of that, what has been the most challenging moment for you so far?

Clara: I think challenging is to not get stuck in my head. That if I, especially also during races, make mistakes that I don’t get stuck on those mistakes.

But to move forward and to kind of forget it or even like in India, it was like we had three races in one day. So if the first race didn’t go well, I was kind of stressed out and kept those mistakes with me for the other two races. And I just had to learn to let those go and move forward and concentrate on the things that are happening now and not get stuck on the things that happened in the past.

Thiemo: No, definitely. I think that’s something you have to deal with, especially in that situation, because there’s just no time to focus on that because you’ve got to get on with the next thing and the next thing and the next thing.

And you see that as well with French F4 this season. You had what, five practise sessions on Friday? And then you get straight into qualifying, straight into the race, two races, and then another race. So there’s no real time to feel bad about yourself if you have made any mistakes or to think about it. But at the same time, if you’ve got something you want to improve on, you don’t have long to figure out how to solve it either.

So it’s that weird balance as well. Final question for you then, which I think may be linked a little bit to what you’re talking about your first time in the car in India. What does it mean to you to be a racing driver?

Clara: Well, now it means the world to me. It became such an important thing in my life. And it’s just so incredible for me that I have this amazing opportunity, which I never could have even dreamed of. Literally, I couldn’t even dream of being in this position. I never thought that it would be possible. So right now, it’s just a really big passion of mine. And it really makes me happy and keeps me going.

And it’s just amazing to be part of such a world and to meet so many new people, so many travels so far and everything. It’s just an incredible environment. And it’s just amazing to be part of such a community.

Thiemo: Perfect way to finish up the interview, I think. Best of luck for everything else moving forward for the rest of the year. I’ll be watching. Thank you.

Clara: Thank you so much for the invitation.

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Catch Clara at the French Formula 4 on its return on June 19th-21st in Spa, Belgium.

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Last weekend, the 2026 Kyojo Cup Series got underway with its first round of the new season. The all-female Japanese series was founded in 2017 by Masanori Sekiya - the first Japanese driver to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Originally intended to be a support championship for the Inter Proto Series, the championship has since taken on a life of its own, attracting not just talent from all across Japan but from outside the country’s borders too.

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Eighteen drivers from across Japan and including five drivers from three other countries will compete in ten races across five rounds, all of which will be held at the Fuji Speedway. It’ll be the second year running that the series holds two races across a race weekend with a Sprint Race held first, followed by Final Race the day after.

Each competitor will drive a KC-MG01 F4 car, such as the kind that was previously used in the 2019 and 2022 editions of FIA Motorsport Games’ Formula 4 Cup. With a 1.4 litre engine with an output of just under 180 horsepower, a six speed paddle shift sequential semi-automatic gearbox and run on Bridgestone tyres, the KC-MG01 provides the drivers with a solid machine with which they can hone their craft.

Previous champions include Miki Koyama (who also competed in W Series), Hinako Muramatsu, Shion Tsujimoto and 2026 contenders, Miki Onaga, Ai Miura, Aimi Saito and Rio Shimono.

For the first round of the new series, the championship was held on the same weekend as 2026 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Series which this year has former F1 ACADEMY driver Amna Al Qubaisi making her debut in the endurance racing series.

With four former Kyojo Cup Champions on the grid this season, one might have expected any of them to be leading the pack straight away or at least all of them to be near the front of the field. That was not to be the case however as it was Riona Tomishita who took Pole Position for both races. In fact, such was Tomishita’s performance that she won both races of the weekend and claimed the fastest lap for the Sprint Race too. Aimi Saito stole that accolade away from her however by the end of Sunday’s Final Race. Naturally she leaves the first round of the Championship in first place overall with 33 points.

However, her domination last weekend was not as clear cut as it may seem and Riona looks set to have at least one firm challenger for the title this season - Australia’s Joanne Ciconte. The former F1 ACADEMY driver made her debut in the series as she pivoted away from F1 ACADEMY for 2026. After qualifying in second place for both races, Ciconte kept within touching distance of Tomishita throughout both races, converting her P2 starting position into back-to-back second place finishes. With twenty five points to her name, she sits in second place overall in the Championship, less than ten points behind Tomishita.

The third step on the podium however switched between drivers across the weekend. Having qualified in third for both races, Aimi Saito lost out in the Sprint Race to both Kokoro Sato and Miki Onaga. These two then battled it out for the final podium position with the former claiming it for herself come the end of the Sprint Race. On Sunday though, Saito learnt her lesson and kept ahold of third place to clinch her first podium of the season. Onaga again finished in fourth while Sato had to settle for sixth. All three are the only other drivers besides the top two to be in double figures when it comes to the overall points standings. Each of them will be hoping to improve for Round Two and put themselves firmly into the Championship fight.

Five drivers contested the remaining points paying positions across the weekend. In the Sprint Race, the top eight score but in the Final Race, points are awarded down to tenth place. Ai Miura, Rio Shimono, Hana Burton, Rami Sasaki and Sara Matsui all did battle with one another which resulted in some great edge of seat wheel to wheel action at points - reinforced by the ever heightening pitch and enthusiasm of the commentators! Ai Miura would come away as the best of the rest, collecting eight points across the weekend, while Burton and Matsui were the only drivers to only score points in one of the two races.

For the other eight drivers, the first weekend of the year proved to be a learning curve as they all worked to get to grips with their cars and the track. Kelei Kanemoto showed the most promise, finishing in P10 and P11 in the two races, just on the edge of the points. At the rear of the field were Kelsey Pinkowski and Rina Ito. For them, the knowledge they gained in the opening weekend will be vital for them to succeed later in the year.

The same can also be said for the five other drivers of Itsumo Shiraishi, Marie Iwaoka, Paige Raddatz, Sitarvee Limnantharak and Rya Yamamoto. One of the advantages for a series like the Kyojo Cup is that each round is held at the same circuit and so, while conditions will inevitably vary, progress from one race weekend to the next can be measured in a way that most other series cannot provide. For these five, they’ll each soon learn where they need to improve and what they can do to propel themselves up the order in future races.

The challenge for those at the top of the field will be honing their abilities further and remaining consistent throughout the year. A duality of challenges will emerge as they not only battle each other but those rising up the order from behind who want to be part of the conversation too.

Championship Standings

1. Riona Tomishita - 33 Points

2. Joanne Ciconte - 25 Points

3. Aimi Saito - 16 Points

4. Miki Onaga - 13 Points

5. Kokoro Sato - 11 Points

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The Kyojo Cup Returns June 18th-19th at the Fuji Speedway.

The Indianapolis 500 is arguably the greatest spectacle in racing on the planet. Each year, a cacophony of storylines fuses together after a legendary buildup that sees that year’s competitors rack up thousands of laps around the famed motor speedway, all in preparation for one race. It’s where careers are born, reforged and ended. To say that each year, the Indy 500 makes history is an understatement. But this year, there was an extra slice of history being made, and that was thanks to Katherine Legge.

The forty-five-year-old has been active in the motorsport world since the turn of the millennium. In the interlude between then and now, the British driver has competed in the British Formula 3 Championship, Formula E, the IMSA Sports Car Championship, NASCAR, been a test driver for the Minardi Formula 1 team and has, of course, driven in IndyCar.

Legge became the first woman to win a major open-wheel race in North America at twenty-four years of age. This was when she was competing in the Atlantic Championship back in 2005, and Legge achieved victory on her first attempt at the opening round in Long Beach. It was a feat she repeated in Edmonton and San Jose, respectively, that season, as well as stepping onto the rostrum a further two times before finishing the year in third place overall.

“It’s not sunk in yet (winning at Long Beach) that I’ve made history but, hopefully, it will encourage more young girls to get into the sport.“ - Katherine Legge

Legge then isn’t a stranger to making history. Having competed in the Indianapolis 500 back in 2012 and 2013, she then made a return to the infamous oval in 2023 and 2024. In the former, she set the fastest qualifying time for a woman at the venue in history. With a year out on the sidelines last year due to budgetary reasons, 2026 would be another matter entirely. This time, Katherine Legge was back and ready to forge history once again.

Attempting to Do the Double

When the news was announced that Katherine Legge would be returning once more to compete in the Indy 500, it wasn’t much of a surprise. With a long career behind her that has seen her go in and out of the series, it made sense. What did make bigger headlines came later when it was announced that Legge would also be competing in the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600.

Both races are huge events on their respective calendars and are held on the same day, providing fans with an epic day of motorsport action. Attempting to do both is something so rarely seen that in attempting it, Legge would become only the sixth person in history, and the first woman, to try it. Kyle Larson was the last to attempt it back in 2024, and of the previous five, only one, Tony Stewart, has successfully completed the challenge. This he managed in 2001, finishing in the top ten for both races.

To attempt it, organisation is key. The Indy 500 is held in Indianapolis, while the Coca-Cola 600 is held 574 miles away in Charlotte, North Carolina. To get from the former to the latter, the driver in question must helicopter to the nearest airport in Indiana, fly from there to Charlotte, and then be driven the rest of the way to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. What’s more, the driver must naturally qualify for both races and be able to switch between the two disciplines of racing with relative ease, as the turnaround time from one to the other is not long.

The combined mileage for both races is 1100 miles, with both races taking place on large ovals while also essentially being endurance races. The toll on the driver can be and is immense. Immediately, one can see how even attempting the double, never mind succeeding, is quite the undertaking.

Katherine Legge’s Return to IndyCar

It would be not only her fifth time running in the 500 but also her fifth with a different team, as she partnered with A.J. Foyt Enterprises for the occasion. As well as teaming up with A.J Foyt, Legge would be sponsored by e.l.f. Cosmetics, which in turn would be partnering up with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway itself for the 500. Over the course of the event at the speedway, e.l.f. would showcase Legge’s motorsport journey through a storytelling wall, provide fans with a chance to leave Legge a message prior to the race, broadcast behind-the-scenes footage on Twitch and provide complimentary SPF for everyone in attendance at the 500, amongst other things.

“e.l.f. ‘s commitment to motorsport, Katherine Legge and fan activation engages fans in creative ways, and we’re excited to see them expand that presence for this year’s Indianapolis 500. Their support of Katherine and their investment in creating meaningful experiences for fans both at the Speedway and digitally aligns perfectly with the energy surrounding this year’s race.” - Douglas Boles, IndyCar President

Getting Down to Business

When it came down to the on-track business end of the month, Legge wasted no time in getting up to speed - literally. In the opening practice session, she clocked in a fastest speed of 218.304mph. For the remainder of the sessions until raceday, she would keep building on this already eye-watering speed. Soon, she was comfortably inside the 220s and peaked during the sixth practice session, where she set a fastest speed around the historic oval of 231.057mph.

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When qualifying commenced one week prior to the race, the pressure was well and truly on for all of the drivers. With the format condensed into a single attempt for each driver after the previous day’s running was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions, the laps that each driver was about to set down were more crucial than ever. Out of a field of thirty-three drivers, twenty-five of whom were full-time runners, Katherine qualified in her best Indy 500 position of twenty-sixth with an average speed of 229.456mph. She would start between Championship contender Kyle Kirkwood and Mick Schumacher and ahead of veteran competitor and recent podium sitter Graham Rahal, to name a few. The grid was now set, and with a previous best result at the Indy 500 of P22 set back in 2012, Katherine also had a personal target to aim for.

Down in Charlotte, in North Carolina, Legge clambered aboard her Live Fast Motorsport machine powered by Chevrolet to eventually end up with a starting position of thirty-seventh place on the grid. All that was left now was to go racing.

Unfortunately, neither race went the way Legge or anyone else would have liked. Just seventeen laps into the Indy 500, veteran racer and fellow one-shot driver with Arrow McLaren, Ryan Hunter-Reay lost control of his car and crashed out of the race at Turn Two. Driving behind him on track was Katherine Legge, and as Reay’s car veered back into her path on the track, she was left with one of the most unenviable positions a driver can be in. If she stayed the course, she’d plough into her fellow competitor at around 200mph. If she veered to avoid him, there was a high chance she would crash too, simply due to the combination of high speed, the action required to avoid Reay, and the unforgiving nature of the track, and be out of the race.

Up to that point in the race, Legge had been putting in an average speed of 213.080mph. The carnage she would have created for herself, never mind anyone else, would have been monumental. She opted for the second choice and, in avoiding Reay, spun off track and out of the race. As exits from races go, Legge’s was one of the most noble and selfless you’ll ever likely see. In the split second that she had to react, she was confronted with the fact that while every driver was at the Indy 500 to win, that desire should never come at the cost of putting your fellow competitors in danger. Legge emerged from the car and, subsequently, the medical centre, unharmed but understandably deflated.

Switching to NASCAR

There was little time to focus on what might have been, though, as she now had to get back to North Carolina for the Coca-Cola 600. Things started markedly better for the Britain, but her hard work and dedication would come undone during the third stage of the race. An unknown problem with the car that then presented itself when the right front wheel disconnected from the car forced her into the pit lane. The team didn’t give up, though, and she was able to return to the race. But due to that, and the incoming rain shortening the race distance, it meant that Legge would finish the NASCAR race twelve laps down from race leader Daniel Suarez.

“I think the highlight for me will be when I can finally lay down tonight, because I’m so tired! But, the opportunity to do it, the opportunity to attempt to do it, is the highlight. We are gonna regroup and think about it and reflect to see what we could have done differently. That was kind of a calamity of errors. At the end of the day, I don’t think I made too many mistakes so there’s positives to take from it too.” - Katherine Legge

While neither race went according to plan, that unfortunate possibility was always on the cards, as it is for every driver taking part in either race. The Indy 500 saw nine drivers retire, including favourite Alex Rossi, while the Coca-Cola 600 had eight retirements, including 2025 winner Ross Chastain.

But no matter what the end result was ultimately going to be, those would just be extra pieces of garnish on what was already a mouth-watering dish. Simply by starting both races, also never a guarantee in itself, Katherine Legge did what she set out to do. She became the first woman to ever attempt the double. She also became both the first British driver and the first non-American to ever attempt the double. Much like the Ollis Garage Racing Dacia Logan that competed in the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring earlier in May, it wasn’t primarily about winning or even finishing for that matter. It was making it there and about demonstrating what was possible.

More Than Just Making History

Katherine Legge went to two of the biggest motorsport races not only in America, but in the entire world, took the fight to vastly more experienced and successful drivers and proved herself capable and worthy of running with them. IndyCar requires drivers to complete an orientation session to ensure those competing have what it takes to be there. She passed with flying colours. By driving in both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600, Katherine Legge showed young women across the globe, as well as those already competing in motorsport, whatever series they may be in, that they, too, can have a career in racing and can make it to the very top.

Watching Legge over the month of May felt very much like a full-circle moment for her as she achieved once again what she had after she won the opening race of the Atlantic Championship in 2005. She’s inspired a generation. What she did as she first started out, Legge did again almost three decades later. Younger or older, experienced or rookie, she proved that reaching the top is not only possible but so too is longevity - that it’s never too late to chase after what you want and that there are people out there willing to back you as you pursue your dreams.

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Following a statement of intent from Emma Felbermayr at the opening round of the 2026 F1 Academy Season in Shanghai, it was the turn of Alisha Palmowski this time out as the all female racing series went racing in Montreal. But F1 Academy’s time in Canada was more than just an occasion for the Championship hopeful to fire a return serve. Across the weekend, we saw consistency, close calls, records being broken, heartbreak and moments of pure joy. In only its second year hosting F1 Academy, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve will surely now be a fan favourite that most will hope remains on the calendar for many years to come.

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Alisha Palmowski on Top

Alisha Palmowski may not have had a dream start to the season in Shanghai but Montreal certainly saw the British driver take everything up a level. Through a combination of almighty dominance that was sprinkled with a dash of bad luck for Felbermayr, the Red Bull backed driver was able to fight back against the Audi supported driver with two statement drives in Montreal.

First, Palmowski took Pole Position. She then controlled the opening race of the weekend from start to finish, adding a bonus point for the fastest lap of the race to her tally too. But Palmowski didn’t just win comfortably, she dominated, annihilating the record set by Maya Weug last year for biggest race winning margin. What before had been a record of around seven seconds obliterated as Alisha reset the record at ten seconds.

A frustrating reverse grid race saw Alisha all the way down and out of the points in P10. But that was the only anomaly in her weekend. Come Sunday’s Feature Race and Palmowski was back on top. Once again, she demonstrated her impressive capabilities with an outstanding drive that allowed her to break her own newly set record of biggest race winning margin. The record now stands at 10.995 seconds. What makes that even more impressive is that she achieved this new feat in wet conditions.

Leaving Montreal, Palmowski leads the Championship standings with a healthy gap back to Felbermayr of twenty-five points. If the battle between these two alone can continue like this, we’re in for a brilliant Championship fight this season.

Megan Bruce on the Rise

There were a number of fresh faces at the top of the field last weekend in Canada. One of these was British driver Megan Bruce as she put in her best F1 Academy performance so far. She didn’t do badly in China as she scored her first points in the series, following her time as a Wild Card Driver last season in Singapore. But in Montreal, much like Palmowski, Bruce stepped things up a notch. Two podiums from three races in the form of a P2 and P3 finish was an incredible achievement. Moreover, in the reverse grid race, Bruce still finished inside the top ten with a P7 result. Bruce was easily one of the standout drivers of the weekend.

Promising Potential from Paatz

Mathilda Paatz reached a major milestone moment in Canada too. At the venue where she made her F1 Academy debut in dramatic style last year as a Wild Card Driver, Paatz gave Aston Martin their first win and podium of 2026.

In the opening race, she secured her first podium with a P3 finish just behind Bruce. But it was in the reverse grid race that the German driver reached the top spot. It was her first win in the series and a result that she followed up with a fifth place finish in the feature race on Sunday.

Having not scored any points in the series until this weekend, it was one heck of a turn around for the young German driver.

Consistency is Key

Nina Gademan, Payton Westcott and Natalia Granada had relatively anonymous weekends in Canada. But none of these three will necessarily complain too much about that. The only really dramatic thing to happen to any of them was Gademan’s DNF in the reverse grid race, spoiling what was a clean weekend up to that point. With solid points on the board for all three and another podium for Westcott, her second of the season, they are each building upon the foundations of their season from Shanghai and keeping themselves within touching distance of the hunt for the Championship ahead of them.

Another driver being incredibly consistent is the Brazilian driver Rafaela Ferreira. While she may not have stood on the podium yet this season, she’s certainly a driver that her fellow competitors should take note of. Ferreira is the only driver apart from the two drivers of Palmowski and Felbermayr at the top of the Championship to score points in every race so far this year.

She equalled her best result of P4 in Canada and while sitting in seventh place overall, is only ten points away from P3 in the Championship. Missing out on the race win in the reverse grid race due to a penalty for a false start, one has to wonder how much closer she’d be to the top with those additional points. With an extra season of experience under her belt than most of her competitors, Rafaela is definitely one to watch for the rest of the season.

Drama Throughout the Pack

Alba Larsen’s maiden podium ultimately continues to elude her. Crossing the line in second place in the reverse grid race and getting to stand on the podium as a result, Larsen was then penalised for causing a collision with Felbermayr. She lost her first podium and the points to go with it, dropping down to P11 as a result. That will have stung for sure for the Danish driver but should hopefully serve as an excellent motivator moving forwards.

A P5 and a P6 finish in the other two races in Canada was good to see but the contact shows that there is still a lot of learning that needs to be done. Speed is nothing without control and so far in her F1 Academy career, Larsen has shown that she can get close, but not quite close enough.

Further down the order, Ella Lloyd had another lacklustre qualifying performance. But the Welsh driver didn’t let this deter her in the races. The McLaren backed driver fought hard throughout and finished in the points in both the opening race and the feature race. If she can fix her qualifying efforts moving forwards, she may even enter the conversation as a late starting Championship contender.

Finally, there is the Haas backed driver of Kaylee Countryman. The sixteen year old American had a tough start to the year back in Shanghai. She left the opening round without any points to her name. In Canada though, she turned things around immediately. A P7 finish in the opening race saw her hit the milestone of first F1 Academy points. She then bettered that result with an outstanding P2 finish in the reverse grid race. She jumps up to P11 in the standings overall and has already scored more points than previous Haas backed driver Courtney Crone in the entirety of last season.

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F1 Academy returns for Round Three in Silverstone, Great Britain from July 3rd-5th.

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As part of our coverage of the five women competing at the 2026 Vodafone Rally de Portugal, we sat down with Inês after the rally weekend to get to know the human behind the helmet. She wasn’t on the podium this time around, but what she carries into every stage, and every part of her life off the road, is a story worth telling in full.

Co-driving is one of motorsport’s most misunderstood positions, encompassing many tasks, such as recce preparation, pace notes written metre by metre, calculations to hit each time control to the second, tyre pressure checks, and real-time communication with engineers, among many others. The driver just drives. Everything else falls to the co-driver.

The Lisbon-born co-driver has been doing a precise job alongside the same driver, José Pedro Fontes, for twelve years. This is a partnership that she describes as a marriage, built on trust, shared history, and a single look being enough to know what the other needs.

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Co-Driver, Entrepreneur and Mother

Twenty-five years in motorsport is an achievement on its own. Doing it while building a physiotherapy clinic from scratch and raising a family with the same precision she brings to the stages is something else entirely. Motorsport shaped her into someone who knows how to compartmentalise, how to show up fully in one world without letting the others fall apart. But it hasn’t always been straightforward, and she doesn’t pretend otherwise.

We talked about how she balances a motorsport career and a business while raising a family. About a serious accident in 2017 that led her to question everything, and what it took to come back. And about something she’s tired of after all these years in the sport: being asked questions that are only ever asked because she’s a woman.

It’s a 24-minute honest and laid-back conversation that gives you a full picture of who Inês Ponte is and reminds you why the person behind the helmet matters as much as the result.

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Constructed on the man-made Notre Dame Island in the middle of the St Lawrence River, the island was originally created for the 1967 Expo World’s Fair. Once the expo, and the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics that followed, were over, an idea was hatched to use the island in a different way. The Formula 1 circuit that we know and love today was born.

The inaugural Formula 1 Grand Prix to be held in Canada was back in 1978. It was the final race that season and took place on October 8th - a far cry from the modern place on the calendar of May/June. French driver Jean-Pierre Jarier claimed Pole Position while Alan Jones took the fastest lap. Fittingly though, it was home hero Gilles Villeneuve who won the Grand Prix, with Jody Scheckter in second place and Carlos Reutemann in third.

Forty-Four Grand Prix have been held in total at this circuit since then and it’s seen some incredibly memorable moments throughout the years. These include the modern classic that was the 2011 edition of the race where Jenson Button stole victory from Sebastian Vettel on the final lap of the race as well as the iconic podium in 2023 of Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Newey.

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F1 Academy’s History at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

F1 Academy first visited the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve last season - and it gave us one of the best rounds that the series has had in its entire history to date. Normally, there are two races held over an F1 Academy weekend - but on this occasion, there was a third added due to the cancellation of the second race in Miami at the previous round due to adverse weather conditions.

Chloe Chambers claimed Pole Position while Chloe Chong took Reverse Grid Pole.

The first race was full of drama as the two Campos Racing teammates of Chambers and Palmowski collided as they were battling for the lead early on. Mathilda Paatz, then a Wild Card Driver in the series, made contact with the infamous Wall of Champions and a chain reaction of incidents at the end of the race led to the event ending behind the Safety Car. The incidents in question were Ferreira and Chong colliding while behind them, Ciconte and Crone did the same in an attempt to avoid the incident unfolding in front of them. Doriane Pin won the race, with Ella Lloyd in second and Nina Gademan in third.

The second race of the weekend was filled with close battles throughout, some of which were too close for comfort at times, and resulted in Emma Felbermayr taking her maiden win in F1 Academy. It was quite the whirlwind for the Austrian driver as she’d been disqualified from the first race for having an underweight car. Once again, it was Ella Lloyd in second and Nina Gademan in third.

Anagnostiadis and Paatz made contact with one another early on in the final race of the weekend. Nina Gademan received a ten second time penalty after colliding with Felbermayr in the turn 10 hairpin but both drivers were able to continue. Lia Block then ran into the back of Ferreira (who was having the very definition of a bad luck weekend) and brought out the Safety Car once more. Nobels also had to retire as a result, having collided with Ferreira too. The third and final race of the F1 Academy weekend would again end under Safety Car conditions with Chloe Chambers winning from Ella Lloyd in second place and Doriane Pin in third.

It was also confirmed over that weekend of F1 Academy racing in Canada that the series would return to race there until at least 2028.

Circuit Details and Weather Expectations

Valtteri Bottas still holds the lap record at the 2.7 mile circuit which he set back in 2019 when he was driving for Mercedes. The legendary circuit boasts fourteen corners, including the famous hairpin at T10, where Robert Kubica crashed spectacularly in 2007 and the long back straight that ends with the final chicane of T13 and T14 with the Wall of Champions on the outside of the last corner.

Being held in June, the chances of good weather are rather high. But as has been proven a number of times before, such as in 2011 and 2023, the rain will happily come along to challenge those out on track. Once again, three races will be held across the weekend when F1 Academy returns to Canada. This time, it’s due to the cancellation of the original second round of the season, which was to be held in April in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

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The Canadian Grand Prix has a reputation among fans as one of the most fun weekends on the calendar, thanks to the race action, the circuit activities, and the lively city it lands in. Montreal during race week is alive in a way that very few race destinations can match, and the Canadian Grand Prix has become as much a part of the city’s identity as its food, its festivals, and its particular brand of energy with a vibe that sits somewhere between North American and unmistakably French.

Montreal, the European capital of North America

The largest city in Canada’s Québec province is set on an island in the Saint Lawrence River. Named after Mt. Royal, the triple-peaked hill at its heart, it has the grand boulevards and café terrasses of a European capital alongside the scale and pace of a major North American city. In late May and early June, when the temperatures finally climb, and the Canadian Grand Prix rolls into town, those two worlds collide in the best possible way.

Streets that are already busy get taken over. Crescent Street, which runs through the heart of the city’s entertainment district, transforms into a week-long outdoor festival. The metro fills with people in team colours. And Île Notre-Dame — a man-made island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River — becomes the unlikely home of one of motorsport’s most iconic circuits.

To understand what Montreal race week actually feels like, we spoke with Jezabel, a 22-year-old local content creator and fan who lives near the city and attended her first Grand Prix in 2024. Since posting her first video in September of that year, she’s built a community of motorsport fans and is known for giving great advice to attend her home race.

For fans arriving from outside Canada, or even from other parts of the country, that mix is one of Montreal’s most reliable surprises. It doesn’t feel like anywhere else.

What’s happening at the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix?

The 2026 Canadian Grand Prix runs from May 22–24 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, a track that winds around the perimeter of Île Notre-Dame in the St. Lawrence River. It’s a street-style circuit — fast, punishing on brakes, and famous for the Wall of Champions, the barrier at the final chicane that has ended more than a few promising race days.

This year is also a Sprint weekend for Formula 1, which means the schedule is packed tighter than usual. There is barely a gap between sessions, and if you like your race weekends dense with on-track action, Montreal delivers exactly that. Formula 1 arrives here, coming off the Miami Grand Prix a fortnight earlier, and the momentum of the season will be building.

It also marks the return of F1 ACADEMY and Formula 2, with the Canadian round carrying even more weight. Due to the cancellation of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, both championships faced a calendar gap that needed to be made up. For F1 ACADEMY, the solution came in the form of a three-race format in Montreal, and again later in Austin. What that means in practice is that fans at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve get more F1 ACADEMY racing than a standard weekend would offer.

And unlike most rounds on the calendar, fans of the all-female championship can get genuinely close. There is public access to the F1 ACADEMY paddock located in the orange zone, behind Grandstand 15, where you can step behind the scenes, watch the teams at work in the garages, see the cars up close, and catch autograph sessions with the drivers. Montreal is also where Disney and F1 ACADEMY kick off their new collaboration, bringing Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck into the race weekend through trackside moments and new product launches available to buy at the circuit.

Fanzones, brand activations & evening concerts

The circuit offers several dedicated fan areas worth building your day around. The Fanzone F1, situated in the yellow zone behind Grandstands 34 and 47 in the centre of the island, brings together activities from Formula 1 and its partners — pit stop challenges, racing simulators, brand activations, and the kind of interactive experiences that make the gaps between sessions disappear. The Heineken Terrace, also in the yellow zone behind the Casino, works as a relaxation space during the day and shifts into something livelier by evening, with seating giving way to a proper party atmosphere once the on-track action wraps up.

“There’s a lot of things to do,” Jezabel told us. “On the circuit, there’s going to be all sorts of activities like pitstop challenges, racing simulators, brand activations (like LEGO last year where you built your own mini F1 car), the Monster Energy fanzone, and more!”

There’s also the CGV Experience, a new General Admission offer that bundles race access and evening concerts into a single ticket. After a full day of racing, ticketholders get access to live concerts in a beach zone located right in the heart of the circuit, with an entirely Canadian lineup: Matt Lang, Simple Plan, Dean Brody, Bryan Adams, The Beaches, and Alessia Cara. It’s not a bad way to end a race day. If you want the Grand Prix to feel like a festival as much as a sporting event, this is the option that closes that gap and one that few other races in the calendar offer.

Formula 1, brand activations & hockey take over the city

What makes Montreal unusual as a race destination is how far beyond the circuit the Grand Prix actually reaches. The city doesn’t just host Formula 1. It absorbs it, and Crescent Street is the epicentre. For the duration of race week, this stretch of bars, restaurants, and terrasses becomes a continuous outdoor party, with team flags hanging from buildings, fans spilling onto the street, and a noise level that suggests nobody plans on going home early. It’s where you go to feel the full weight of what race week in Montreal means.

This year adds a few specific brand activations worth planning around:

• The Adidas store on Saint-Catherine is hosting a joint Audi and Mercedes activation from May 22–24.

• Audi is also staging its RUE 26 experience at the Montreal Clock Tower on the evening of May 22, an outdoor event that’s free to attend and worth building your Thursday around.

• Cadillac is celebrating its debut season with the Cadillac Hub at Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth from May 22–24. Expect an F1 show car alongside their V-Series lineup, Tommy Hilfiger x Cadillac F1 merch drops, F1-inspired simulations, and appearances from actor Lou-Pascale Tremblay and Juno Award-winning artist ToBi, plus a chance to win $75,000 toward a Cadillac vehicle.

And if you happen to be a hockey fan, or simply want to understand a core part of Canadian culture, the Montreal Canadiens have qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs and have a game during the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix weekend. This means the area around the Centre Bell will come alive with fans watching on big outdoor screens. It’s the kind of spontaneous, city-wide energy that you just have to be there to live it.

Getting to the circuit & moving around

Getting to the circuit is one of the easiest parts of the Montreal weekend. The metro runs directly to Parc Jean-Drapeau station, a short walk from the circuit, and during race week, the carriages fill with fans in team colours. The journey becomes part of the experience. Driving is the one thing to avoid. Traffic around the island during race weekend turns short journeys into very long ones, so leave the car behind.

“The easiest and most used way is definitely by public transport. It’s so easy to get around town using the metro, even if you’re not a local,” Jezabel says. “I had so many nice conversations during the Grand Prix week by just randomly talking to people who were wearing F1 merch and it was so fun!”

For disabled fans, the circuit has wheelchair-accessible sections across most grandstands, but the pedestrian bridges between areas of the island involve stairs and are worth checking in advance on the circuit’s official accessibility map. In the city, Sainte-Catherine Street has been under construction for some time and can be slow to navigate during race week with the added crowds. It’s not a dealbreaker, but worth factoring into your plans.

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Where to stay, eat, and explore

The best rule for race week accommodation is simple: prioritise metro access over being downtown. Prices in the centre climb sharply during Grand Prix week, but the line extends north to Laval where you’ll find significantly better value. If you want to stay central, the neighbourhoods around Guy-Concordia or Peel stations put you within walking distance from most of the action.

For food and atmosphere, Crescent Street is the obvious starting point and deservedly so. Jezabel has two firm recommendations there. Wienstein & Gavino’s is an Italian restaurant that commits fully to race week — team flags, a vintage F1 car hanging from the ceiling. “I went there two years ago during the F1 week and it was amazing,” she says. Le Warehouse is the more casual option: good burgers, a big terrace, cocktail promotions running through the GP week, and a pub atmosphere in the evening. Both are worth it.

Beyond Crescent Street, the city rewards wandering. Old Montreal has cobblestone streets, waterfront views, and Jezabel’s personal approach to it: “Walk around, go into every general store, find some unique things, get some ice cream and admire the view in the Old Port.” Mont-Royal park is worth the climb for the Kondiaronk lookout, and she adds a detail that’s hard to ignore:

The Plateau-Mont-Royal neighbourhood — independent cafés, weekend markets, terrasses that fill up the moment the sun appears — is where Montrealers actually spend their time. It has no Grand Prix activation attached to it, and that’s exactly the point. And for a shopping spree, Sainte-Catherine Street and the Eaton Centre cover the mainstream, plus Saint-Denis for independent and vintage shops.

Is the Canadian Grand Prix for me?

Montreal is one of the most accessible Grand Prix destinations on the calendar. It doesn’t ask much of you before it gives back. The metro works. The food is good. People are friendly and will talk to you, no matter where you are from. The circuit is genuinely exciting from almost any grandstand. And the city vibe is unique.

In terms of pricing, a three-day general admission weekend pass starts at $410, saves you from queuing each day, and is worth picking up before the weekend starts. Day passes are also available starting at $95 and are worth considering when your budget is tight. And bundles for race access and evening concerts start at $287. We always recommend buying your tickets from the official channels, such as the F1 Tickets site or the Grand Prix and circuit official sites, to avoid scams and other potential issues.

If your love for racing expands to your little ones, the Canadian Grand Prix is also a genuinely family-friendly weekend, something difficult to find on the calendar. Children 11 and under get free entry with a regular ticket holder, and between the fan zones, the amusement park on the island, and everything the city offers — the Biodôme, the Planétarium, the Centre des Sciences — there’s enough to keep kids engaged well beyond the racing itself.

It’s also a very safe city to travel alone, having ranked as the safest city on the continent and the second-safest in the world, plus Canadians are well known for their politeness and hospitality. Montreal operates in both French and English, but a little French goes a long way — Bonjour when you walk in, Merci when you leave, and J’adore la Formule 1 when you meet another fan.

For fans who want to watch F1 ACADEMY compete, Montreal delivers great racing, and this time, multiplied. Three races across the weekend on one of the sport’s most storied circuits, after a two-month wait. And with the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup playoffs, the city has another reason to be loud this weekend, so if you know a little about hockey, locals will be happy to bring you into it.

See it for yourself

The Canadian Grand Prix doesn’t need convincing. It needs a booking.

Pack for late May weather — warm days are likely, but evenings can still be cool, and some rain might show up, so layers are worth it — download a metro map before you land, and give yourself at least a day on either side of the race weekend to enjoy the city. Walk Old Montreal in the morning before anyone else is up. Get to the Kondiaronk lookout early. Eat the smoked meat sandwich. Watch the hockey game with locals.

And when you’re on the metro on Sunday afternoon, surrounded by people in team colours with the race still buzzing in your ears, you’ll understand why this one keeps coming back to the top of people’s lists.

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The 2026 Italian Formula 4 season commenced last weekend in Misano (8th-10th May). The lineup features five female drivers this year - all are no strangers to single-seaters and Formula 4.

Returning to Italian Formula 4 after their rookie seasons and having gained valuable experience, Emily Cotty and Payton Westcott will hope to go one step further and battle with the frontrunners in a tightly-packed grid. But this year, they are also joined by newcomers to the series, Emma Felbermayr, Rafaela Ferreira and Ginevra Panzeri. Let’s meet the 2026 Italian Formula 4 female drivers.

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Emily Cotty - R-ace GP (#42)

Making the switch from horse racing to motorsport in 2022, the 16-year-old British-New Zealand driver has taken an unusual route into Formula 4 compared to many of her peers. However, this lack of experience hasn’t undermined Emily’s progression through the junior ranks, proving she is a winner from the get-go.

Beginning her motorsport career in the British Kart Championship and Super One Series, she achieved her first major success in 2024 when she was crowned Junior Rotax Champion, demonstrating the natural-born racer within her.

Having only raced in the UK before stepping up to F4, Emily had to adapt quickly to unfamiliar machinery. She made her single-seater debut in the penultimate round of the 2024 British F4 season at Silverstone with Phynsis by Argenti. Despite difficult weather conditions, she secured two top-20 finishes — an impressive F4 debut.

She followed this by competing in the final two rounds of the Formula Trophy UAE season with AGI Sport, achieving a best finish of 15th at Yas Marina and placing 23rd overall, one place ahead of current F1 ACADEMY driver Ella Lloyd. Emily proved she could compete alongside the best female talent of her generation.

Emily remained in the Middle East for the 2025 F4 Middle East Championship with R-ace GP, where she charged from 20th to 12th to score her first points. She narrowly missed out on a top-10 finish at Yas Marina after losing a position on the final lap.

2025 proved to be the turning point of Emily’s career. Remaining with R-ace GP for Italian F4, she exceeded expectations, dominating the Women’s Trophy and clinching the title at Misano, 51 points clear of runner-up Payton Westcott.

She added another Women’s Trophy title in the 2025 E4 Championship and later secured her maiden F4 podium in the UAE4 Series at Yas Marina. A highly successful season saw Emily place 10th out of 45 drivers, this result boding well for her campaigns in Italian F4 and E4 this year.

In the first round of the Italian Formula 4 Championship, Emily was the highest of the five female drivers contesting the series. While not a dream weekend for her, Emily’s results of P15, P22 and P23 in the races that she contested were good enough to put her in P28 overall in the Championship and secured her her first Championship point of the season.

Payton Westcott - Van Amersfoort Racing (VAR) (#94)

Perhaps the woman with the most expectation weighing on her this Italian F4 season is 17-year-old American Payton Westcott. Falling short of the Women’s Trophy title last year to fellow debutant Emily Cotty, Payton will be all guns blazing for her second season and aiming to outperform the Brit this time around.

Payton’s karting career began at just six years old. Entering competitive racing in the States at 12, she achieved notable results in the United States Pro Kart Series, California Pro Kart Challenge, and finished third overall in the Challenge of the Americas. Her success earned her selection for the inaugural F1 ACADEMY Discover Your Drive karting programme in 2024, opening doors to international opportunities across Europe and helping her graduate to single-seaters in 2025.

Payton proved in her rookie season that she could compete in any series she entered, gaining experience in the Formula Winter Series, Italian F4, and UAE Trophy, scoring several podiums throughout the year.

After winning the Female Trophy in Formula Winter Series, she challenged Emily Cotty for the Italian F4 Women’s Trophy, securing double class wins at Monza and Mugello, as well as another at Imola. Ultimately, Cotty clinched the title at Misano, but the disappointment will undoubtedly fuel Payton heading into 2026.

In the UAE Trophy, she became the first female driver to stand on the top step, converting pole position into victory in Race 2 at Dubai. She also impressed in the UAE4 Series, scoring six points and finishing 21st overall.

Later in 2025, Payton balanced her F4 commitments with F1 ACADEMY. She topped the timings in the Rookie Test, earning a Wild Card entry for the Las Vegas finale, where she scored points with a sixth-place finish on debut. Her performances secured her a full-time 2026 F1 ACADEMY seat with PREMA, backed by Mercedes, and she recently claimed her first podium at Shanghai.

Payton also benefits from the support and guidance of reigning F1 ACADEMY Champion and Mercedes Development Driver Doriane Pin. Doriane praised Payton’s efforts and success, saying: “She has shown so far that she is a great up-and-coming talent with lots of room to continue progressing.”

It proved to be a challenging opening weekend for Westcott in Italian F4 too. P17, P16 and P21 are not bad results when the size of the field is taken into consideration. But that fierce competition will surely motivate Westcott as she gets further into the season. P32 is where the American stands overall in the Championship after the first round.

Emma Felbermayr - PHM Racing (PHM)(#60)

Emma’s racing journey began when she was just seven years old, making her karting debut. Emma has since competed in the Micro, Mini, and Junior Classes of karting and finished as runner-up in her first international race in the 2021 ADAC Ladies Cup. In 2023, she qualified 23rd out of 119 drivers in the KZ category of the World Championship in Wackersdorf, Germany and in 2024, Emma competed in all major shifter karting events, including WSK-Karting and the World and European Championships.

Emma Felbermayr made her F1 ACADEMY debut in 2025, backed by the Kick Sauber Formula 1 Team. The Austrian driver finished the year in P10 overall, with a victory in Canada to her name, along with several other top ten finishes.

In 2026, Emma returned to the series, now backed by the new Audi Formula 1 Team and will once again compete for Rodin Motorsport. Leaving the opening round of the season in Shanghai with both a P3 podium finish and a race win, Emma leads the Championship standings ahead of round two in Canada.

She joins the Italian F4 Series with PHM, a team that she’s had experience with earlier this year when she drove for them in the majority of the UAE4 Series. Confident in her abilities behind the wheel, PHM had no hesitation in signing her up to drive for them again in this series. In the first round of the Championship, Emma was the only other female driver alongside Emily Cotty to score a point on debut with a P15 finish in her second race. A P22 and a DNF scuppered her plans for the weekend though and leaves her in P30 in the Championship.

Rafaela Ferreira - Cram Motorsport (#38)

The 21-year-old Brazilian driver already had a solid foundation of experience in Formula 4 machinery. Finishing fourth overall in her second season of Brazilian Formula 4 with three wins and a total of ten podiums, she attracted the attention of many around the motorsport world, including Red Bull.

Last year, Rafaela made her F1 ACADEMY debut with Campos Racing and Racing Bulls support. She finished in P12 overall with multiple top ten finishes. This year, she has returned to F1 ACADEMY, in which she currently sits fifth place, after a strong opening round in Shanghai.

Rafaela has also competed in three races of this year’s Formula Winter Series with a best race result of 19th.

P41 after two P23 finishes however left Ferreira wanting more from the opening round of the Italian Formula 4 weekend. But with the strong performances she’s shown previously in her career, you wouldn’t want to bet against the Brazilian bouncing back later in the season.

Ginevra Panzeri PA Racing by AS Motorsport (#64)

The 17-year-old Italian driver is competing in Italian F4 and E4 on a part-time schedule this year with AS Motorsport. Last year, she competed in E4, finishing 38th overall with a best result of 20th. Ginevra also competed in the Formula Winter Series, finishing 36th by season’s end with a best result of 17th.

Like Ferreira, Panzeri competed again in the Formula Winter Series earlier this year, finishing 29th overall but this time, with a best result of ninth. But that’s not all. Panzeri is also racing in French Formula and Czech Formula 4. She sits in 18th place in the latter overall after taking two top-15 finishes in the first round of the season at the Red Bull Ring.

P20 and P29 in the two races that Ginevra competed in was good enough for P37 overall in the standings come the end of the weekend. Her progress will be difficult to measure over the course of the season, owing to her part time schedule. If she can finish above P38, as she is currently doing, this year’s outing in Italian F4 can be considered a success.

Up Next: Italian F4 Heads to Vallelunga

Based on recent results in UEA4, Emily Cotty is the firm favourite. Payton Westcott is not to be counted out just yet, however. Her history of producing comeback drives shows that she doesn’t give up without a fight. Perhaps this applies more than ever this year, with Payton aiming to dethrone the reigning Women’s Trophy holder. But with Emma Felbermayr having already had such a strong outing in China with F1 ACADEMY, followed by Rafaela Ferreira perhaps both drivers will have to contend more with her for the top spot, rather than each other as the season progresses. Panzeri is worth keeping an eye on too. While only on a part time schedule, her experience in other F4 series this year will surely benefit her too.

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We’re in for some thrilling on-track battles this year between these five powerhouses. Don’t miss the 2026 Italian F4 season, which continues with its second round in Vallelunga from May 22nd-24th.

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Those crowds were loud, passionate, and present despite shifting weather across the weekend, and among them, a notable number of female fans. Women were visible beyond the stands too, working across teams in roles that rarely make headlines: engineers, logistics coordinators, media and communications professionals. The infrastructure of a WRC event increasingly reflects a broader range of people, and Portugal was no exception.

The entry list, however, tells a different story. Of the 69 competitors from 22 nationalities, just five were women: Janni Hussi, Julie Amblard, Inês Ponte Grancha, Inês Veiga, and Magda Oliveira. All five co-drivers. Five out of sixty-nine. The energy around women in motorsport is clearly growing in the stands, behind the scenes, and across the sport. It’s just not translating on track yet.

The Women Competing At Rally de Portugal Delivered

When you look at what those five women actually achieved, the quality argument makes itself. Two of the five co-drivers reached the podium. Janni Hussi, alongside driver Teemu Suninen, took the WRC2 win. Inês Veiga, alongside Gonçalo Henriques, finished P2 in the Campeonato de Portugal de Ralis and won the Power Stage. That’s two podiums from five women competing, a conversion rate that any category on the entry list would be proud of.

What makes those results even more impressive is the story behind them. Hussi accepted a live radio challenge from WRC driver Sami Pajari, fell in love with co-driving, and went from never having read a pace note to winning WRC2 in Portugal. Veiga, at just 24 and with a fresh podium from Portugal, is part of a growing generation of Portuguese women making their mark in rallying.

The stories of the other three women are no less remarkable. Julie Amblard is part of the Iron Dames project, the first all-female team in 35 years to finish in the top five of the French Rally Championship, and the first all-female team to compete in seven WRC rounds since Michèle Mouton. Inês Ponte Grancha started co-driving at 16 and in 2016 became the first woman to win a National Rally Championship in Portugal, a partnership with José Pedro Fontes that continues to this day. And Magda Oliveira, who claimed her first outright victory with Hugo Lopes in 2025, stepped up to Rally2 in 2026 with clear ambitions to fight at the front.

The Numbers Tell a Longer Story

In Portugal specifically, the numbers have fluctuated without ever really climbing. In 2021, only two women competed. 2022 saw four, and 2024 reached a relative high of eight, which is still just 11% of the total field. This year, five, which makes it seven per cent of the total. None of this is due to a lack of women competing in motorsport, nor to a lack of talent among those women.

It’s also not just something that has presented itself at this rally. The Monte Carlo Rally that opened the season saw five women compete, a group entirely different from those present in Portugal. Rally Sweden then saw that number drop to three, while the rounds held in Kenya, Croatia and the Canary Islands only saw one woman competing at each. In the latter two, it was the same woman.

It’s also worth noting that the five women competing in Portugal were all in the WRC2 category, with none in RC3 or RC1. While it’s great to see them represented there, the lack of any in the higher categories paints an interesting picture.

Why Aren’t There More Women Competing?

The lack of women across these rallies, particularly when taken as a percentage of the total field, speaks to a larger issue within motorsport that hasn’t been properly addressed yet, and one that isn’t localised to any one country or series.

It’s not about making sure that the women competing win races or get on podiums. Instead, it’s about women who want to compete in this field having the chance to do so, and getting that chance because they deserve it. For that to be achieved, more work needs to be done at the grassroots level, and support needs to be there as these women move up the motorsport ladder, both on and off track.

Portugal alone has a number of talented women making names for themselves in the rally world. Maria Gameiro, Bárbara Pereira and Bia Pinto are three examples of this that immediately come to mind and there are many more besides them. Game this out to all of the other nations that the WRC visits each season, before even factoring in every other country, and the prospect for a tidal wave of change and fierce competition at this level of motorsport becomes a mouthwatering prospect that fans both old and new will love.

The Future We Want To See

The WRC puts on fantastic sporting events for its fans everywhere it goes and Rally de Portugal this year was no exception. The crowds, the stages, the racing. It really delivered. But the series now has the chance to do something that other motorsport series haven’t fully cracked yet. The female fans are already there. The women working across the paddock are already there. And as Hussi and Veiga showed in Portugal, the talent is there too.

Translating all of that into more women competing on track, not just in WRC2, but across every category, would not only reflect the sport’s growing audience. It would undoubtedly improve the racing. And no one can argue against that.

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Now, Doriane Pin is narrowing that gap. She marked a breakthrough for both her career and women in motorsport by completing her first F1 test with Mercedes on April 17. After 76 laps around the Silverstone Circuit in the Mercedes W12, she became the first woman to drive for the Silver Arrows, continuing the legacy of women testing contemporary machinery.

Beyond the glamour of the test, however, there is more to Doriane’s story. While the W12 test is a significant step toward an F1 seat, she was winning titles and podiums long before her time at Mercedes.

Karting, Where It All Began

Doriane began karting at age nine — a “late” start by modern F1 standards. Because of her small stature and explosive starts, she quickly earned the nickname “The Pocket Rocket.” This physical disadvantage actually forced her to develop a technical edge early on; since she couldn’t outmuscle the kart, she perfected a smooth, precise style built on preserving momentum.

“I was three years later than everyone else. So I had to wait two and a half years to get into a go-kart. I went and played tennis for two years,” - Doriane Pin in an interview with Mercedes.

She spent three years honing these skills in the French National Karting Championships, often as the only girl on a grid that included future stars like Isack Hadjar and Esteban Ocon. A turning point came at the 2018 French Women’s Championship in Lavilledieu. During a rain-soaked final, Doriane put on a masterclass, recovering from an early incident to fight her way back to a third-place finish.

By 2019, her goal was clear: become national champion. Competing in the French Women’s Karting Championship (Championnat de France Féminin), Doriane swept all three finals to claim the title at just 15 years old.

Transition to Single Seaters

Moving from karting to car racing proved challenging for Doriane. By 2020, rising costs outpaced her family’s support, leaving her without the budget to enter her target series, Formula 4.

A lifeline arrived through an invitation from Renault to compete in three rounds of the Clio Cup France. Though it was not the start she had envisioned for her single-seater career, Doriane adapted instantly, finishing the season as vice-champion in the Junior class.

Soon, Dorinae’s raw speed caught the eye of the FIA Girls on Track initiative, earning her a spot in their 2020 intensive training camp. This three-day masterclass covered the essentials of professional racing: media training, team dynamics, tyre management, and full race simulations in Formula 4 machinery.

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Eventually, Doriane reached the final four in Maranello but narrowly missed the winning seat in the Ferrari Driver Academy. Still, her performance left a mark. The Iron Dames programme recognised the Pocket Rocket’s potential and invited her to test a Ferrari GT car at Mugello and a further three-day test at Paul Ricard. Little did she know that this invitation would shift her career trajectory, placing Doriane on a direct path to Formula 1.

Proving Her Speed in the World Endurance Championship

What sets Doriane’s career in endurance racing is how much she has achieved in such a short period of time. At 17, racing alongside Manuela Gostner in the 2021 Michelin Le Mans Cup, she secured five podium finishes in her first six races despite visiting circuits such as Spa-Francorchamps and Monza for the very first time.

In 2022, she dominated the Ferrari Challenge Europe Series, winning nine of 14 races to secure the Trofeo Pirelli with a round to spare. That same year, she joined Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting, and Rahel Frey to win the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps — making them the first all-female crew to triumph at the iconic endurance event.

Pin’s 2023 FIA WEC Rookie Test performance earned her a full-time seat with Prema Racing in LMP2. Partnering with Mirko Bortolotti and ex-F1 driver Daniil Kvyat, she reached the podium in her debut race at the 1000 Miles of Sebring. Her pace and technical feedback eventually made her the first woman to win the FIA WEC “Revelation of the Year” award.

Mercedes and F1 ACADEMY

Despite immense success in endurance racing, Doriane’s goal was to return to her path towards the pinnacle of motorsports: F1. By late 2023, the Pocket Rocket made her long-awaited debut in single-seaters. Racing in the final six rounds of the F4 South East Asia championship with Prema, she finished second in the standings.

In 2024, Doriane’s chance to chase her F1 dream finally came. In collaboration with Prema Racing and the Iron Dames, the Pocket Rocket joined Mercedes’s Junior Programme, earning a shot at F1 by representing Prema in F1 ACADEMY — an all-female series using spec F4 cars founded by F1 in 2023.

Doriane immediately made an impression. Despite limited experience in single-seaters, the Pocket Rocket secured a double pole and a dominant win in the Jeddah opening round. By the end of her F1 ACADEMY tenure, she won the 2025 Championship and helped Prema Racing retain its crown as Team Champion.

“I have grown so much this year thanks to the team, even through some highs and lows, we fought to the end. Winning the first race of the season in Jeddah was so special, and having the Mercedes team there to celebrate with me made it even better!” - Doriane Pin in an interview with Mercedes.

What’s Next For Doriane Pin?

Despite clinching the F1 ACADEMY title last season, Doriane Pin has yet to move further up the single-seater ladder. Instead, the French driver graduates from the Mercedes Junior Programme to a Development Driver role — a less conventional, yet possible strategic path toward a seat in F1.

In this role, Doriane is part of a roster of drivers focused on development work in the team’s simulator, alongside activities at the factory and on the track. Thanks to her strong performances in the simulator, she earned the opportunity to drive the Mercedes W12.

It can be frustrating for a champion when progression feels stalled. However, Doriane’s work with Mercedes will build a strong foundation for her F1 ambitions.

“So obviously, the thing that I want the most is to go to Formula 3 and then Formula 2 and Formula 1. But it’s not only me that decides and I have good people around me that support me.” - Doriane Pin in an interview with Mercedes.

Alongside her duties at Brackley, Doriane hasn’t forgotten her endurance roots. She returned to the European Le Mans Series in the LMP2 PRO/Am class with Duquiene Team — a return marked by a podium in the season’s first round in Barcelona, finishing P3 alongside teammates Richard Verschoor and Giorgio Roda. She also joined WEC Team Peugeot TotalEnergies as a development driver earlier this year, a role that will see her work with the Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar and deepen her endurance credentials at the highest level of sportscar racing.

The most recent chapter adds yet another dimension. Doriane has been announced as an official development driver for the Citroën Racing Formula E team, giving her exposure to Gen3 and Gen4 Formula E machinery alongside her existing commitments. Between her simulator and factory work at Mercedes, her return to endurance racing with Duquiene and Peugeot TotalEnergies, and this first step into electric single-seaters, Doriane is building one of the most varied and impressive development programmes of any young driver in the sport right now.

So, what’s next for Doriane Pin? The “Pocket Rocket” has come a long way, and the single-seater ladder is still the stated goal. But the path she’s taking to get there is entirely her own. Her career already inspires — not just a generation of women aiming for F1, but anyone willing to do whatever it takes to chase a dream.

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The next Regional Formula 4 Championship to prepare yourselves for is the Italian Formula 4 series with Round 1 fast approaching in Misano (8th-10th May). Here is your complete guide to the Italian series, in which we discuss the format, calendar, and its history.

As in Spanish F4, there are also five extremely talented, young female drivers competing in the Italian series in 2026. We will briefly touch on them in this piece, but be sure to look out for our in-depth piece on the 2026 Italian Formula 4 Female Driver Line-up, coming soon.

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Italian F4: An Overview

Italian F4 is regarded as the main and most attractive Formula 4 series globally, especially for young drivers transitioning from karting to single-seater racing. With Italy known as the home of karting, the biggest young talents often look to the series to launch their careers in single-seaters.

Regularly hosting grids of over forty drivers, young drivers are forced to develop quickly in this extremely competitive and high-pressure environment. It’s everyone for themselves in this tightly-packed grid, as they all fight to succeed and climb the ladder to compete on the biggest stage in motorsport.

Italian F4 in History

Italian F4 was founded in 2014, established as the direct successor to the Formula Abarth series, which concluded at the end of 2013. It was the first of the Regional F4 championships to be introduced, as well as the first championship to follow the FIA F4 regulations, marking it as a key junior formula championship.

The Italian series is considered one of the most prestigious and competitive junior categories globally - the most dominant and successful out of all the Regional F4 and junior single-seater series. Its alumni consists of many current or ex Formula 1 drivers, including the likes of Lance Stroll, Ollie Bearman, Kimi Antonelli, and even the 2025 F1 World Champion Lando Norris. This puts the spotlight on the series, with so many young drivers rising through the ranks from the series to the higher formula categories.

Certified by the FIA and heavily backed by Italy’s motorsport federation (ACI Sport) and WSK Promotion, it is supported by major brands such as Pirelli, Tatuus and Abarth. Since the category’s introduction twelve years ago, many drivers have progressed to other categories soon after, including Formula Regional, FIA F3, and even Formula 1. This includes Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who was crowned Italian F4 Champion in its inaugural season in 2014, becoming the first-ever driver from the series to progress to F1 when he made his debut for Williams in 2017.

Others have gone on to become members of young driver development programmes. Italian F4 has also provided a large stage for young female drivers to get themselves off the mark. This year’s female driver line-up is already familiar with the Italian series, with two of the five drivers having competed in the series last year. Payton Westcott, for example, earned herself a seat in F1 Academy with Mercedes for 2026 after she impressed many with her performances last season.

Italian F4 is set to host its thirteenth season in 2026. Since its inaugural season in 2014, the championship has evolved from ten teams and twenty-eight drivers to twelve teams and a predicted forty-eight drivers competing in 2026. However, our main focus here is on the five female drivers who will be competing this season: Emily Cotty, Emma Felbermayr, Rafaela Ferreira, Ginevra Panzeri and Payton Westcott.

Format

Each weekend is divided into seven sessions, with an extra race on Sunday for the top 36 drivers to end the weekend:

The weekend format is dependent on how many drivers participate in an event. The typical weekend format, due to the series’ regularly high number of participants, means the grid is split into two groups, known as series. Both series then have to participate in one of the two qualifying sessions.

At the end of both sessions, a ranking is established. The fastest driver from the first series earns pole position, the fastest from the second series earns P2, the second-fastest from the first series earns P3, and so on.

The drivers are then split into three groups according to their positions: Group A includes those who placed 1st, 4th, 7th, and so on; Group B includes those who finished 2nd, 5th, 8th, and so on; and Group C consists of those in 3rd, 6th, 9th, and so on. Race 1 is contested between groups B and C, Race 2 between groups A and B, and Race 3 between groups A and C.

Once the races are complete, a final classification is established. Points achieved in these three races are added together, with the best 36 drivers then being entered into a final race.

The alternative format, used when there are less drivers competing, is a copy of the format used in Spanish F4. The best lap from Q1 sets the grid for Race 1, the best lap from Q2 sets the grid for Race 2, and the second-best lap from either of the qualifying sessions sets the grid for Race 3.

The Car

Such as in the Spanish F4 Series, Tatuus is the sole vehicle supplier for Italian F4. Since 2022, the championship has been raced with the second generation of single-seater: TATUUS F4-T421.

Tyres: Pirelli P Zero (dry slick tyres), Pirelli Cinturato (wet tyres)

Engine: 1.4 TURBO ABARTHENGINE, 176 hp.

Chassis: TATUUS F4 -T421.

2026 Calendar

The 2026 Italian F4 Championship will host seven rounds and, for the first time since 2017, the championship will be raced exclusively at Italian circuits.

Round 1 – 10 May – Misano
Round 2 – 24 May – Vallelunga
Round 3 – 21 June – Monza
Round 4 – 26 July – Mugello
Round 5 – 6 September – Imola
Round 6 – 20 September – Misano
Round 7 – 25 October – Mugello

The calendar features some of Italy’s most iconic and historic venues, regarded as some of the best across Europe, especially for young drivers progressing in their careers. It includes the Temple of Speed (Monza), famous for its high-speeds, long straights and technical chicanes, and the technically demanding Imola with its fast corners, juxtaposed by the calmness of the surrounding nature.

Next: Meet the Women Competing in the 2026 Italian F4 Championship

Emily Cotty and Payton Westcott are both returning to racing in Italian F4 in 2026 with Emma Felbermayr, Ginevra Panzeri and Rafaela Ferreira making their debut in the series. After taking away key learnings in their rookie seasons last year, they now know what to expect from the series, as well as what they need to do to consistently perform well and compete at the front of the crowded field. 2026 is full of hope and promise for these five women.

In our next article: Italian Formula 4 in 2026 - Meet the Female Driver Lineup, we will get to know these female drivers a bit better and unpack their individual journeys to single-seaters.

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