Alba Vázquez and her engineer, Amaia, talking before the start of a session at the Valencia Round. Photo Credit: Álvar (@alvargc214)

When we sat down with Alba Vázquez in Madrid back in May, she was presenting a new Supercars Endurance season with a clear goal: win the championship and take another step towards Le Mans and the WEC.

We found her again at Circuit Ricardo Tormo for the Valencia round, and this time she arrived as championship leader. On a hot Saturday morning before qualifying, she welcomed us and a group of other journalists and creators, relaxed in Adidas shorts, a tee and sandals. Always smiling, she made sure everyone felt comfortable and had the time to get a proper interview with her.

She was fresh from her best weekend of the year at Jarama, with two podiums, and clearly adjusted to her new team and car. The breakthrough, she told us, came from a piece of advice from drivers in higher categories: stop thinking like a GT driver and drive it like a Formula car.

She left Valencia with another podium, having secured third place with her teammate in Race 2. The podium belonged entirely to her team, Chefo Sport by Petrogold, which also proved something she told us that weekend: her toughest rivals are in her own team. She’s now second in the standings, behind two of her teammates who share the top spot on equal points, and everything will be decided at the final round in Jerez in November.

A full Chefo Sport by Petrogold podium during the Valencia Round. Photo Credit: Sabrina Bonini.

That weekend showed us who Alba really is: an incredible driver who delivers on and off track, juggling media, sponsors, guests and her own social channels between very competitive sessions. She handles all of it with the same grace inside the car and out of it, and keeps showing why she’s one of the best Spanish drivers competing today.

Our conversation with her went well beyond the points table. Alba opened up about leading a championship without letting it become an obsession, and about the plans B, C and D every driver needs when the budget isn’t there. She told us why she now coaches young karting drivers, giving them the guidance she wishes she’d had, and also talked about what it takes to be a driver, a coach, a sponsor hunter and her own media team all at once.

The last time we saw you, you were presenting your season. Now we’re halfway through it and you’re leading the championship. How are you feeling?

Less obsessed than last year. I think last year, with McLaren, I got really obsessed with trying to win the championship. We’re leading, but we have to drop our worst result of the championship. Right now my worst result is 12 points, while my teammates have zeros, and that could penalise us a bit, so we have to keep the calculator in hand. But I’m good, motivated, and not obsessing too much over winning the title. I’m letting the season flow and working on results.

You’re coming off your best weekend of the season at Jarama, with two podiums. It looks like you’re settling well into the new car and the new team. How does it compare to last year?

Surprisingly well. I’ve always changed cars, and every team I’ve raced with has told me I tend to adapt really well to new ones. As we talked about at the season presentation, this car has no aids: no ABS, no TC. It’s a pure racing car. The McLaren had aids for everything, and so did the Ferrari.

We got to Portimão and the first race was a bit complicated for me, because I had to understand the car. I spoke to several drivers from higher categories, some from the top category, and many of them told me: you have to drive this car like a Formula car, because the braking, everything, isn’t like a GT. Think of it more like a Formula car. That’s where the jump came, from Race 1 to Race 2 in Portimão. Then we went to Jarama and got the double podium. In Race 2 my teammate had a bad start and spun. We started 22nd, and we finished third. I don’t know how I pulled off that comeback, but we finished third.

From the outside, it looks like one of the hardest things is when the season goes badly. But what happens when it goes well? When you’re leading a championship or you’ve just won a race, how do you carry that into the next one?

When you win a race, obviously there’s the euphoria of being there, of having won, of seeing the work pay off, of having been competitive and having the potential to win the weekend. Especially in my team, because our rival is at home. We’re 1, 2 and 3, the three cars, we’re the ones at war, even though obviously there are the rest of the drivers too. You go home calm.

But it’s what I was saying about last year: I put a lot of pressure on myself. We have to win the championship, we have to win the championship. And losing it wasn’t my mistake. It wasn’t about performance; it was problems, bad luck in races with the car. [What helps is] focusing on the simulator at home, really switching off with the people you trust, the people you love, staying focused and letting others motivate you. But also being realistic, because people tell me, no, it’s all going to go well. Yes, but we drivers always have the rational side. We know what we’re going for, we know what can happen, and until you cross the chequered flag, anything can happen. The engine can break as you come onto the straight. I think you need both sides, the dreamer and the realist, a mix of the two, but always with your feet on the ground.

Alba Vázquez driving the Ligier JS2 in Circuit Ricardo Tormo, during the Supercars Endurance round in Valencia. Álvar (@alvargc214)

I know your goal is to race in the WEC, we talked about it back in May, but the road there isn’t straight or easy. You’ve just mentioned treating the car like a Formula car. How do you see your route to the WEC? What role do GTs play in it, and do you see yourself switching to another category at some point?

We’re working on a project for next year. Today I can say we’re considering repeating this championship, because the Ligier European Series and the other series are getting an evolution of their cars for 2028, so stepping in for 2027 might not really suit us. So we’re weighing up some options. I do think, as we said at the start of the season, that this car is going to help me a lot with GTs, because it has no aids. So when you get into a GT that has ABS, traction control, everything, you should in theory be much faster after driving this car.

How are we working towards the WEC? It comes back to the same thing: sponsors, people who want to join the project. Luckily, we have a lot of committed people. We work a lot, and my personal circle knows it; we’re absolutely dedicated to this. I think to win the championship this year, after last year, I got a weight off my shoulders at Jarama, and I’d like to get another one off by winning a race, because it would mean we’re there. We’re working with the brands on the basis of results, and on results that show we’re capable of being there.

In 2024, you raced a Ferrari in GT3 with a team made up entirely of women, if I’m not mistaken. What was that experience like? It’s probably a bit different from what you’re used to.

Well, this year my engineer is a woman, Maya. She works incredibly well, she’s very clear about things, and we make a really balanced tandem in terms of what the driver needs, both on and off track. With Ferrari, we had women mechanics too: Piera was the engineer and Elena was the mechanic. A different experience, but basically the same. It comes back to the same thing: this doesn’t depend on gender, it depends on the quality of the work. People forget that in motorsport, as in other sports, it’s pure meritocracy.

So I’d say it was exactly the same experience I could have had with a male mechanic or engineer. It’s true that maybe they had a bit more hunger, or they’re much more competitive in that respect, but I think that’s something we women have inside us as part of our character too. But in that sense, the same.

Alba Vázquez getting ready with her engineer, Amaia. Photo Credit: Álvar (@alvargc214)

There aren’t many races a year in your category. What do you do between rounds? How do you train, and is there any sport besides the gym that keeps you fit?

Between races, the simulator at home. Luckily, I have Fanatec, who are my sponsor, and we have an extended collaboration. Padel, quite a lot of padel, for reflexes and speed. And as I was telling you, as a hobby I ride horses quite a lot, which is also good cardio. It’s really good for endurance, your back, everything in general. As we well know, we’re not allowed to do many risky sports. Being allowed to go skiing in December is a bit of a miracle. So gym, padel, horse riding, and that’s roughly what I do to train.

I read that you’re a driver coach, which I didn’t know the first time we spoke. Tell me about it. Are you already working with drivers, and what kind?

Specifically, karting drivers who are starting to move up, and who are making decisions about going into Formulas. As we were saying, sometimes it’s really hard to decide whether to go GT, not just because of the budget but because of opportunities. We know Formula cars have far fewer seats, and it’s not enough to have the talent to be there, you need a pretty big budget behind you.

It’s about accompanying them along the way and on race weekends. Many of us know that sometimes your dad, your mum, or in my case, your grandfather, tells you something and you don’t do it, but then the coach tells you and you do. It’s having a person you trust over the weekend. So lots of karting drivers, and drivers who are making the jump right now. After a couple of years you more or less know what range budgets are in, so it’s things like: “They’re charging me this for GT, is that right? Is there something cheaper? What do you think?” So there’s also financial advice within the category.

And as I always say, I do it because I want to. I would have loved for someone to take me aside and say, look, this is the way, I think it should go like this, but realistically. Because along the way I’ve had people tell me, “No, Formulas, Formulas, you have to do Formulas, 420,000 or 500,000 euros for Formulas.” And I’m like, where do you get 420,000 euros to do Formulas? So it’s about accompanying drivers and giving them some support, both financially and on the sporting side of the weekend.

Speaking of the financial side: I know you find your own sponsorship, and you’ve been doing it for years. Have you noticed anything different as a woman? What have you learned, and what do you tell young drivers when you talk about sponsorship?

That the pressure is really tough, but it makes you stronger. Getting to January with nothing signed is really hard, whether that’s teams, projects or discounts, or when your budget is much smaller than everyone else’s. Getting to February and seeing the season starts in April is even harder, because you have to sign a contract with a team, and the team needs a confirmed driver. But don’t give in to the pressure, and keep fighting until the last moment. Have more than a plan A. I’d say have a plan B, C, even D or E, because you don’t know which ones will fall through. Probably A or B are the ones you like most and you hate the rest, but sometimes the one you hate most is the best option you could have taken. That’s happened to me.

Financially, as a woman, I’d say that with the progress in equality and so on, more brands are open. But it comes back to the same thing. What I’m seeing is meritocracy: results, social media numbers, followers, likes, views. It’s meritocracy, regardless of the progress we’ve made on equality. Ours is indeed a sport where women and men compete in the same category, except F1 ACADEMY in this case. In GTs, Formula 4, Formula 3, Formula 2, we compete on equal terms, and I think brands like having a woman competing on equal terms with everyone else, unlike in other sports. But again, it’s meritocracy: you being there, showing you’re at the front. It’s true that I might be seen more favourably than if my teammate had won, because I’m a woman. It’s beneficial for me, of course, so that’s how we handle it.

Besides being a driver, you coach, you find sponsors, you run your own social media, you deal with the media. You do everything. So first question: are you Superwoman, and we just don’t know it? And if not, how do you handle all those layers of pressure?

I think in the end the years give you the experience to manage all this. It’s really hard, because sometimes it gets on top of you: getting in the car, uploading videos, the photographer, my manager on the other side, and guests. Tomorrow, in fact, Bosch has an event for 212 people, then an autograph signing in the afternoon. But I think that’s also part of being a complete driver. A driver has to be complete on track and complete off it, without getting overwhelmed. And that’s what we were saying about pressure: it pushes you to improve so you can try to manage absolutely everything.

Sometimes you don’t have to manage everything. I’m actually trying to delegate more, but I’m handling it really, really badly. It’s like: “If anything comes up, call me and let me know.” “No, don’t worry.” “No, if anything comes up, call me and let me know.” Because I’m genuinely trusting you with my life, and if you make a mistake, you can wreck the work of all these years, which is almost 19 now. That’s a lot of years, and you can wreck them with a single mistake.

So how do you manage it? I think it’s years of experience of getting frustrated, crying a lot, which isn’t a bad thing, and learning to handle pressure in a different way.

In between sessions, Alba handles relationships with the media and guests, keeps her social media updated, and attends to fans during the autograph sessions, always with a smile. Image Credit: Álvar (@alvargc214)

A film came out this year in which you act, which I find fascinating. What was that experience like, and did you enjoy playing a role, even though you were also playing a driver?

I enjoyed it. Originally, I was only going to be the stunt driver for a chase scene, and even though the film was already finished, the director said, no, we have to put you in somehow. He cast me as the daughter of the mafia boss who buys my team, which last year was McLaren, so that I can race and he can run his business. It was a completely different experience. In fact, we’re shooting the second one.

I liked it, and I think it could fit really well with new things. We were even talking about filming a documentary about me, about what reaching Le Mans or the WEC might look like. We need to find the right angle, because we don’t know how to approach it in case it doesn’t happen. We have to keep a lot of options open so it turns out well. But it’s something we’re putting on the table, whether that’s trying to do something with Prime Video or talking to some streaming platforms.

To start wrapping up, and on the subject of playing a role: from the outside, drivers sometimes seem to be one person with the helmet on or in front of the cameras, and someone else afterwards. Is your personality the same in both places?

No, I think Alba in her personal life is much more complicated. I’m a somewhat complicated person. I put the helmet on and I’m a driver, I take it off and I go back to being a person. I always say that when I walk out of the circuit gate on race weekends, I go back to being me, and I need to switch off in between, because you have to be on top of the engineer, of anything that happens, information, all of it.

In my personal life, as I said, I’m somewhat intense and complicated, because whether I like it or not, I have to be on top of so many things. Not just the races, not just the sponsors. I also have a personal life: my family, my partner, my friends. It’s what we were talking about, trying to make it to everything. And I do make it to everything, honestly, even if sometimes I end up a bit saturated and swamped. I fight for everything on the circuit and everything off it. If people need me at the circuit, they have me, and if they need me away from it, they know they’ll have me too, to a greater or lesser extent. But I’m trying to slow that pace down a bit, because it’s true you can’t make it to everything without it costing you your health. Little by little, I’m learning to balance the personal with the professional.

And to close: what do you do in your free time? Series, films, podcasts? Is there something you put on to clear your head and have a laugh?

I don’t put on many things. I do, but not many. I’m into podcasts, and I’m also very into Netflix and Prime. But I have to say, and people find this curious when I tell them, I can’t wait for GTA VI to come out. I play GTA V on the PlayStation, and I’m not joking. While I’m playing, I switch off, and suddenly an idea comes to me and I write it down in my diary. People say, “No way, you’re playing PlayStation and ideas come to you?” Really. PlayStation, if you’re watching, sponsor me. I switch off in a completely different way. Sometimes with the simulator too, you think, I’ll do a race with friends. Even with friends, that ‘I have to win’ instinct still comes out, but it’s still a way of switching off. Playing PlayStation, honestly, really switches me off.

Alba Vázquez getting ready inside the car for a session at Circuit Ricardo Tormo. Photo Credit: Álvar (@alvargc214)

Catch Alba Vázquez at the final round of the 2026 Supercars Endurance Iberian Championship in Jerez, from 6 to 9 November, where the title will be decided.

One Round to Go: Alba Vázquez Takes Her Title…