Ambition Is Like a Formula 1 Race

Ambition, in terms of women in F1, is like a race.

It’s about teamwork, perseverance and determination. It’s about a strategy and a goal and having the right tools to get where you want to go. It’s about being absolutely convinced that you will achieve what you dream of achieving.

You need a good team. That’s something we’re well on the way to having. Do women in motorsport have a network of support, both from other women and people in the industry in general? I think it’s fair to say that we are well on our way to developing that. So many people in F1 dream of our vision becoming a success; to make our team stronger we still need better strategists, engineers; people to help our vision manifest.

You need a governing body that is capable of creating a system of rules where drivers win based on their ability in a level playing-field; the jury’s still out on that one. Does the FIA have a genuine vision of women holding equal representation? Is the FIA prepared to invest in us? That is one of the most important questions of our time. The answer might determine our success.

You need strong drivers. That’s about the women that drive our cars themselves - in which case, we’re getting there. We have so many women that could become top-level drivers, but we still need more work. We need better support in junior series and in karting to do that, including guaranteeing a strong feeder series for women.

You need a strategy. How do we want our success to manifest? Do we want to push? Are we relying on the talent of our driers to pull off enough overtakes? Are we banking on having the strongest car? Who do we want to be; where do we want to go; how do we want to get there? These are all genuinely valuable questions. So many of us dream of changing F1 but we don’t always talk about what we want that to look like or how we believe we can best achieve that. Do we need better feeder series or more sponsorships? Do we need to focus on empowering future engineers or future drivers? Do we need to raise more money or work changing preconceptions? We need to have more strategy meetings to establish a common goal.

There are countless cogs and wheels to winning an F1 race, and you also need all those parts to work together. Ambition to me is about having a dream and a goal, but also a plan. Together we can make sure we have these things. We will get there.