#WIMM Mini Q+A 1 - "Which female motorsport figure inspires you the most?"

(06/11/2020)

For #WomenInMotorsportMonth, I'm talking to women in the sport - fans and professionals - and asking them key questions to celebrate our past, assess our present, and consider the future.

The first of this series comes from Cassidy, Helèna, Katy and Mhairi, who helped found this movement.

Which female motorsport figure inspires you the most?

Cassidy: Ann Bradshaw! As someone who wants to be a press officer, her contribution to motorsport over the years has paved the way for so many more women to earn their own voices in F1. I got to speak with her recently and she's so kind, so intelligent, and so passionate.

Helèna: Mine is Anna Pamin. She was the press officer that I learnt the name of first. She worked at Red Bull and she gave me some advice when I won a competition to spend the afternoon with Daniel Ricciardo and other Red Bull staff. She is someone who I look up to and I hope to follow in her footsteps

Mhairi: My choice is Lella Lombardi, for a few reasons: she scored points in F1, showing that women can and should race at the top level of the sport; she was openly LGBT, and she was a versatile racer who raced in various types of motorsport.

Katy: As a kid, the only real female motorsport representation I ever saw in any capacity was those few Top Gear episodes where Sabine Schmitz drove the Nurburgring in a Transit van. She's a legend of touring cars and other motorsports and well known, but it's insane to me that she was the first female figure of any kind related to racing I ever saw, so I'd have to nominate her.