Ella Lloyd

Ella Lloyd is a British driver who races single-seaters, most famously in the all-female F1 Academy championship.

She began her motorsport career in 2022, racing in Ginetta Juniors at the age of 16. She got into motorsport through the FIA’s Girls on Track karting challenge in 2018, having never done any karting before.

Her best results at the start of the 2022 season were three 16th places, achieved at Brands Hatch and Knockhill. Later, she improved, picking up an eleventh place at Thruxton. She was 21st overall.

The first year of her senior career, 2023, ended with a runner-up in the Pro class of the Ginetta GT5 Challenge, after a series of wins. She had 17 podium finishes from 25 races, ten of those being wins in the Pro class.

She then switched to single-seaters in 2024, first in the Formula Winter Series, then in British F4. Rodin entered her for the last two rounds of the Winter Series, taking over from Bart Harrison. It was a cautious start and she only got in the top 20 once, although she also scored more points than Harrison or some drivers who did a full season.

She was eleventh in the F4 championship, impressing many with her pace, despite her limited single-seater experience. The work she had put in over the winter had started to pay off. During the year, she scored three second places, at Silverstone, Knockhill and Brands. This led to a wildcard entry for the Singapore rounds of F1 Academy, where she was ninth and seventh. Later in the year, she took part in the Formula E Women's Test at Jarama, recording the seventh-best set of times. As a result, she was invited back to test again for the McLaren team at Berlin Tempelhof in 2025.

For 2025, she was signed by the Rodin team as McLaren's supported driver in the series. To prepare, she entered the Formula 4 Middle East Trophy. This wasn't a huge success; in the five races she did, her best finishes were 17th places at Yas Marina.

F1 Academy itself was more successful. In the third race at Jeddah, she scored her first win, following it up with three second places later in Canada.

She is from a motorsport family - both parents and her older brother compete - and she has won junior championships in both downhill skiing and showjumping.

(Image copyright F1 Academy)

Mia Flewitt

Mia Flewitt is the 2018 and 2019 Pure McLaren GT4 champion.

She completely dominated the first season of the one-make series, winning five races outright and only finishing off the podium once out of twelve races. 

In 2019, she retook her place at the head of the Pure McLaren leaderboard. She won the first two races at Spa, then made up for a DNF in the first Hungaroring race by winning the other two.

In June that year, Mia joined up with Balfe Motorsport for the Silverstone 600 rounds of the British GT championship. Her car was a McLaren 570S, shared with Stewart Proctor. The pair were 29th overall after experiencing car problems. She returned to the team for the Donington and Spa rounds, finishing 15th and 18th.

Mia is from Sweden and got a late start to her competition career, which only really began when she married McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt. Her background is in engineering; she worked for Volvo initially and ended up at Tom Walkinshaw Racing in the 1990s. The last major project she worked on for them was the V6 Renault Clio.

She and Mike raced a Lotus Elan together in historic events for several years before Mia tried her hand at modern motorsport in the 2018 Mini Challenge, making a guest appearance at Donington. She still races the Elan, one of three owned by Mike.

Wanting more international experience, Mia entered the Gulf 12 Hours at the end of 2019, with the Balfe team. She and her team-mates were second in the GT4 class, 19th overall.

She shared the McLaren with her erstwhile driver coach Euan Hankey for the 2020 British GT championship, with Balfe again. They won the GT4 class in the second round at Oulton Park and were second in the fourth round, also at Oulton, helping them to seventh in the GT4 championship. They also won the GT4 Pro-Am title, which was only contested by one other team.

Mia raced again in British GTs for the Rocket RJN team, driving a GT3-spec McLaren 720S this time. It was a part-season, with a best result of seventh at Donington. She shared the car with Euan Hankey again. A corresponding part-season in the Pure McLaren championship gave her two wins and a fourth place at Portimao. Her level of performance could have led to another win, had she chosen to contest the whole season.

Mia and Euan Hankey were twelfth in the 2022 British GT championship, driving for the 7TSIX team. Their best finish was a fourth place in the GT3 class at Donington and they were also fifth at Brands Hatch.

(Image copyright racecar.com)

Sarah Bovy

Sarah (left) on the BRCC podium in 2012

Sarah Bovy is a Belgian driver who competes in Europe, and is based in Belgium.

She started her senior motorsport career in 2004, in the Formula Renault Academy. She was just fifteen years old, and reached the final on her first attempt. The following year, she joined the Belgian Formula Renault 1.6 championship, and scored two podiums. She was driving for Thierry Boutsen’s team. Sadly, her funding ran out after only three races.

Although she had showed promise in single-seaters, it was saloon cars that she initially gravitated towards. Her first Spa 12 Hours was in 2006, and she was 18th in a Renault Clio. She also took part in the 10h Zolder race and the BTCS 25 Hours in the Clio, as part of a multi-driver team. For the 12 Hour event, she was a guest driver in the Speed Action team. This was after another guest spot in the Belgian Legends championship, which gave Sarah a win. At the end of the season, she was named as the Belgian female driver of the year.   

In 2007, she took a step up, and moved into international sportscar competition. She drove a Gillet Vertigo Streiff for Belgian Racing. Sharing with the experienced Renaud Kuppens, she was 34^th in the Spa 12 Hours. The pair were joined by Bas Leinders for the Spa 24 Hours, but did not finish. Sarah was 18 years old, and one of the youngest people to have driven a sportscar on the Spa circuit. She had also only just passed her road driving test.

For the next two seasons, she undertook testing and development work in a variety of different cars, supported by Gravity Sport Management. She did not do any competitive racing.

At the start of 2010, Sarah was back in a sportscar, driving a Porsche 996 in the first round of the Belcar championship, at Zolder. She and her team-mate, “Brody”, were 26^th. She tried to qualify the Porsche for the Spa 24 Hours, but could not manage. Later, she returned to the Belgian Touring Car Championship (BTCS) and drove a Mitsubishi Lancer for the first time. She did two races with Jean-Pierre de Wauwer, and was 18^th in the championship after one podium finish. Her BTCS programme included the Spa 12 Hours, and she was seventh. Round-the-clock enduros were something of a theme for 2010, as she also raced in the VW Fun Cup 25 Hours, held at Spa.

In 2011, she was meant to race a Ginetta for JHR Developments in the British GT Championship, but the deal fell through. Instead, she carried on with development work for Formula 3. For the past couple of seasons, she had spent time helping to develop a number of cars. For a change, she competed in the Rally Televie in a Porsche Cayman, and towards the end of the year, she was one of the finalists for the FIA Women in Motorsport Scirocco-R Shootout. She did not win the Scirocco Cup prize drive.

In 2012, it was back to sportscars, and she drove a McLaren MP4-12C in the Spa 24 Hours with Boutson Ginion Racing. The team consisted of Sarah, Marlène Broggi, Jérôme Thiry and Massimo Vignali. They did not finish. For the rest of the year, she was involved in the BRCC series, in a GC10 V8 BMW. She was second in her class of the Long Races championship, as part of a rotating squad of drivers for the GC team.  

In 2013, she raced the GC10 in the Dutch GT championship, finishing eighth in one race at Spa and fifth in another. She was twelfth overall in the BRCC Long Race category, with two class wins, and won the Silhouette ProEvo class. She also became the first woman to race an Aston Martin Vantage GT3, in the Spa 24 Hours, but she did not finish.

In 2014, the Long Race series was dropped, and she did not take part in the BRCC.  

2015 was mostly spent in the Renault Sport Trophy. She drove a Renault RS in some races at Spa. She was third in a Prestige (sprint) race, and fourth in an Endurance race. Her team-mate was Michela Cerruti. Away from Renault, she drove a works-supported Peugeot 208 in the Hankook 24h Series, for Team Altran. She raced at Mugello and Brno. The Brno 12 Hours gave her a class win, and 14^th overall, driving in a team of three. A different team, including Sarah, did not quite get to the end of the Mugello race.

She did some more endurance racing in a Peugeot 208 in 2016. At the start of the season, she contested the Dubai 24 Hours, but did not finish due to mechanical issues. She had more luck in the Silverstone 24 Hours, where she was fourth overall, with a class win. Her team was Altran Peugeot, and she was part of a five-driver squad. 

Most of her season was spent racing a Lamborghini Huracan in the European Lamborghini Super Trofeo. She was fourteenth in the Pro-Am class, and her best race result was thirteenth, at Spa.  

She raced the Huracan again in 2017, entering the Spa 24 Hours, which ran as a round of the Blancpain GT Series. She was sixth in the Amateur class. 

The Huracan came out again for the 2018 Spa 2 Hours. Sarah and her three team-mates were second in the Group N class, 47th overall. 

In 2019, she is part of a revolving cast of female drivers in an R24-run Ligier LMP3 in the Asian Le Mans Series. She and Stephane Kox were seventh at Shanghai in January.

The 2019 summer season was spent as part of the all-female W Series. Sarah was chosen as a driver but only as a reserve, so she only made two starts. She was meant to start her home Zolder race as it was her birthday, but her car caught fire on the startline. She was dropped from W Series in 2020. Later, she confessed that she did not fit particularly well in a single-seater due to her height. 

Motor racing as a whole was affected by the coronavirus crisis in 2020. Sarah announced towards the end of the year that she was going truck racing with the Lion Truck team in 2021. She did one race at Nogaro to try out the MAN truck.

As well as putting together her truck deal, she did five races in the French Ligier JS Cup for spec sportscars. She shared the MT Racing car with Thierry Petit. They were 25th in the championship. 

Returning to sportscar racing proved a wise move. Sarah was asked to join the all-female Iron Dames team for 2022, racing their Ferrari 488 in the WEC and other championships. 

She was one of the main squad for that year's WEC and made her debut at Le Mans, finishing ninth in the LMGTE Am class and 36th overall with Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting. The same trio tackled the Monza and Bahrain rounds with a best class finish of eighth.

Alongside Manuela Gostner and Doriane Pin, she also piloted the Ferrari in the first three rounds of the Michelin Le Mans Cup GT3 championship, although a practice crash meant that she was unable to start at Catalunya. She was second at Monza and third at Paul Ricard.

In addition to this schedule, she and the Iron Dames found time to make guest appearances in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe and the Italian GT Championship, in the Ferrari, plus rejoining Rahel and Michelle for two rounds of the ELMS. They earned two third places at Spa and Portimao in the ELMS.

She was a main driver for the Iron Dames in 2022, doing five of the six WEC rounds in the Ferrari. The WEC season started slowly, with tenth in LMGTE at Sebring and then a slightly disappointing twelfth at Le Mans, but three LMGTE Am-class podiums followed at Monza, Fuji and Bahrain, taking them up to fifth in the class championship.

The same team picked up even more podiums in the Fanatec GT World Challenge, winning their class at Spa after finishing second at Paul Ricard on the way to championship second. Another win followed in the ELMS, the final race of the season at Portimao, following a second at Spa. They were third in their class championship.

Sarah stayed a core member of the team for 2023. They had two new cars: a Porsche 911 for WEC and a Lamborghini Huracan for IMSA and the Fanatec GT World Challenge. WEC and the Porsche proved to be the most effective, winning the LMGTE Am class at the season-ending Bahrain race. A third at Portimao earlier and some solid fourth places helped them to second in the class championship, in what was the final season of LMGTE competition. They were fourth in class at Le Mans after running much higher for much of the race but losing ground in the last few hours.

The Dames's IMSA season was limited to four rounds and Sarah only did two of them. Michelle and Rahel were 18th in the Daytona 24 Hours and eleventh at Sebring. They also raced at Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta, in common with many other GTD teams who did not run the full season. Sebring remained their best finish. 

Their GT Wold Challenge season was affected by an early retirement from the Spa 24 Hours, which counted for three of the six point-scoring rounds. Their best result was 28th place overall at Monza, the first race of the season.

Sarah's fourth Le Mans was in a new class, LMGT3, and in a new car, a Lamborghini Huracan. She and her Iron Dames team-mates Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting were fifth in class and 32nd overall. 

She raced the same car in that year's WEC and finished eighth in the LMGT3 championship. As well as their Le Mans result, they were fifth at Spa and Fuji. Across the Atlantic, the Dames entered five IMSA rounds in the Lamborghini, helped by Doriane Pin for the season-opening Daytona 24 Hours. They were sixth in class in that race, 25th overall. Sarah then got a puncture in qualifying for the Sebring 12 Hours, meaning she did not set a time, but the Dames got on the grid, only to retire with accident damage. After a break, they rejoined the championship for Watkins Glen, Indianapolis and Petit Le Mans.

Sarah's best results came in the European Le Mans Series, driving a Porsche 911 with Rahel and Michelle. They won the LMGT3 class at Imola and were second at Portimao, with Sarah setting the pole time for their class on four occasions. They were fourth overall.

2024 was Sarah's last season in WEC with the Dames, as her FIA driver classification changed and she became ineligible to compete at the same level as the other Dames. She was moved to the Asian Le Mans series squad for 2025, driving a Porsche with Michelle and Celia Martin.

Before joining the Iron Dames, Sarah had planned a season in the French truck racing championship. She does not appear to have taken part.

She is the daughter of Quirin Bovy, who raced touring cars in Europe in the 1970s and 1980s.

(Image copyright letihon.be) 

Lorina McLaughlin (Boughton)

Lorina with her 1992 Benetton

Lorina is best known now for racing and hillclimbing Formula One cars from the 1970s and 1980s, but her career goes back much further than that.

She has been racing since 1970, having begun in an Alexis Formula Ford, as Lorina Boughton. Unlike many of her Speedqueen contemporaries, she is not from a family with a history of motorsport, but was introduced to circuit racing by a friend, who took her to Goodwood.

In her first year of racing, she won the BWRDC’s Newcomer award. By 1973, she was their Racing champion.

In 1974, she took over the running of a GRD Formula 3 car from her erstwhile team-mate, Jeremy Gambs, who was stepping down from the cockpit. The car was eligible for the Formula 4 championship that year, so Lorina entered. She was one of the star drivers of the series, and would have won it outright, if she had not had to drop some of her scores to get her final position. She was second overall, with three wins, and two “Man of the Meeting” awards, causing it to be renamed “Driver of the Meeting”.  This achievement netted her a BWRDC Embassy Trophy, and second in their racing championship, as well as the prestigious Lord Wakefield Trophy, for outstanding female contribution to motorsport.   

For the next couple of seasons, Lorina raced a Sark Formula Ford, and a Royale FF2000 car, with some good results, in Formula Ford and Formula Libre. She was also very active in the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club, and was one of those chosen to take part in the Shellsport Ladies Escort Championship, from its beginning in 1974. Her best year in the championship was 1975, when she had her best result of second, at Brands Hatch, with a fastest lap as a consolation. She was fourth in the final standings.

Between 1978 and 1980, she was a multiple championship winner at club level. She won the BARC Teddy Lawry Championship in 1978 and 1980, using one of her single-seaters, and in between, won the BARC FF2000 championship in the Royale, and set a Fastest Time of the Day at the Lydden Hill sprint. The following year, she was awarded the BARC’s Sydney Allard Trophy. A second win in the Teddy Lawry championship was hers in 1980.

Lydden Hill was a favourite track with Lorina; she won the Lydden racing championship in 1982. In the early and middle part of the 1980s, she was active in several different historic Formula Junior cars, including a Gemini, in which she set a Snetterton lap record in 1983. In 1984, she set another record at the same track, this time driving a Lotus 22. This achievement came on the way to a second place in the Historic Formula Junior Championship.

In 1982, she was part of a BWRDC all-female team in the Oulton Park 4-Hour Relay race, driving a Davrian. The other two members of the team were Julie Thwaites, in another Davrian, and Sue Davies, in a Hillman Imp. They were second overall on scratch.

Towards the end of the 1980s, Lorina became increasingly focused on historic competition, and she was proving her mettle in very powerful cars. In 1989, she raced an ex-James Hunt McLaren M23 Formula One car, and won Class B of the Historic Formula One Championship. Her best result was a fourth place, at Magny-Cours, in a Grand Prix support race. In 1991, she took the lap record at Silverstone in a Climax-engined Lotus 20 F1 car, racing in the F1 FISA Trophy. Between then and 1994, she was a regular in historic events, usually in the McLaren. Almost twenty years earlier, she had watched James Hunt race the car.

Lorina took a break from competitive motorsport lasting from 1994 to 2000, during which she concentrated on other things. She had married David McLaughlin in 1989, and together, they promoted historic Formula One, under the banner of “The FORCE” (The Historic European Formula One Car Entrants). Lorina continues to work as a race organiser to this day.

On her return to competition in 2000, she did not ease herself back in with some club meetings in a Formula Ford or a little saloon – she went straight back to the McLaren, demonstrating it at the Coys Festival. Slightly less powerful, but not much, was the Formula 2-spec Brabham BT30 she raced in the Classic Grand Prix championship.

After her return, she became a regular fixture at the big historic motorsport events, including the hillclimb at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. She has won the Ladies’ Award at the FOS seven times, usually in the McLaren, but it is not the only car she has taken up the hill. In 2012, she drove an Arrows A9, and in 2011, an ex-Denny Hulme McLaren M19. Her car in 2013 was an ex-Michael Schumacher Benetton B192 from 1992. In 2015, she drove an Osella F1 car.

Wheel-to-wheel racing had not been forgotten. During 2003, she raced in Europe, and managed at least two sixth places at the Pau Historic Grand Prix. In 2004, she raced the McLaren M23 at the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix Historique, and was twelfth, out of 30. She has also raced a March 711 in the States.

As well as her multiple Ladies’ awards at Goodwood, she set the fastest ladies’ time of the day at the 2008 Cholmondeley Pageant of Power.

In 2012, she travelled to Azerbaijan, for the inaugural Baku City Classic Grand Prix. She drove the Benetton, but it was not one of her best moments, due to fuel pipe issues, and she counts it as her worst race.

In 2015, Lorina was still a regular fixture at historic meetings around the UK, normally in the Benetton, and she demonstrated that car at the Silverstone Classic. In 2016, she took the Arrows up the Goodwood hill again. She is still active as an organiser for The Force.

She was elected President of the BWRDC at the start of 2019.

(Picture copyright Lorina McLaughlin)

Women drivers in Formula One tests since 1992

1992 marks the last time that a female driver, Giovanna Amati, drove a contemporary Formula One car in a Grand Prix. Since then, other women racers have been linked with F1 drives, although none has ever materialised.

There have been a few women who have tested F1 machinery, however; in most cases, the tests were well-publicised, but in one case, their status remains unclear. Below are details of these F1 excursions.

Sarah Kavanagh - Irish racer Sarah’s name was linked with more than one active Formula One team in the early and mid-2000s. She may well have undertaken some testing laps for at least one team. Statements made by the teams themselves about her have been ambiguous or lacking, so it is hard to gauge exactly what the nature of the testing was. In 2001, she passed a fitness test organised by McLaren, and confirmed by team director Martin Whitmarsh stating that “there is nothing in the results that suggest that Sarah could not drive a Formula One car right away”. Driving tests at Pembrey followed, but these were done through the Carlin Formula Three team, and did not involve F1 machinery. Again, this was confirmed by a positive statement by team owner Trevor Carlin. The tests did not lead to a racing or development seat.

In 2004, she was linked to a testing and development drive for the Jordan team, following her performances in a Jordan in EuroBOSS. The deal was said to have collapsed at the last minute due to a lack of funding, or due to contractual issues. The Jordan team made no official communications relating to this deal. It is not known whether Sarah ever did test a current Jordan.

At the same time, she was linked to a very similar role at Jaguar, which was confirmed by the team themselves. She was offered a testing and development seat in return for a sufficient sponsorship package to allow her to compete in British F3 with Carlin, as preparation. The package was said to be in the £1 million range. Sarah and her management were unable or unwilling to raise the money, and the testing went no further.

Sarah Fisher - IRL regular Sarah definitely tested a then-current McLaren-Mercedes F1 car in 2002. The test, which was more of a demonstration, was carried out in the very public arena of a support slot for the US Grand Prix at the Indianapolis road circuit.

The test did not lead to any further test laps, and was done more for publicity purposes than as genuine driver assessment. At the time, Sarah was one of the IRL’s most popular drivers, and Formula One wanted to capitalise on her fame, in order to promote itself in the United States.

Katherine Legge - prior to her Champ Car season, Katherine tested for the Minardi F1 team in 2005. The test itself appeared to be a genuine driver assessment, carried out at an official test day at Vallelunga. During the first day, Katherine spun her car after only three laps, damaging the front right suspension. The car was repaired for the second day, and she completed 27 laps, with a fastest time of 1:21:17, only sixteen hundredths of a second slower than official Uruguayan driver, Juan Caceres. She was faster than official Minardi tester, Chanoch Nissany.

Although Minardi boss Paul Stoddart pronounced himself impressed with Katherine, her test did not lead to a race seat. Minardi had already been sold to Red Bull at that point, and the new Toro Rosso squad was selected by them.

Maria de Villota - tested for the Lotus Renault team in August 2011. The tests took place at Paul Ricard as part of official sessions. Maria covered 300km in the 2009-spec R29, which would be enough for her to be awarded a Superlicence, should a race seat be offered to her. Eric Boullier, the Lotus team principal, described her as “not putting a foot wrong all day”. No lap times have been published.

Further to the test, Maria also did some demonstration laps at a World Series by Renault meeting, this time in a 2010-spec car. Negotiations to drive with Lotus were said to be ongoing, but no contract was signed. Maria was instead signed by Marussia, in order to undertake testing duties in 2012. She was seriously injured in an accident at her first test session, at Duxford airfield, and died in 2013.

Susie Wolff - signed as a development driver by Williams in 2012. She mainly concentrated on development work in the simulator, and the wind tunnel, but took to the track for the Friday practice sessions of the British and German Grands Prix in 2014. Her British session ended abruptly after only one lap, when the engine on the Williams failed. The German session threatened to go the same way after an electronic fault stopped her from changing gear, but the problem was rectified. Susie did several practice laps and some practice pitstops, and undertook some aerodynamic testing. She was 15th (out of 22) on the day's time sheets, and her best lap was 2/10 second slower than team-mate, Felipe Massa.

This was the first time since 1992 that a female driver has directly participated in a race weekend. She did some more Friday testing in 2015, but decided to retire mid-season, due to a lack of actual racing opportunities.

Simona de Silvestro - signed as an "affiliate driver" with Sauber, for the 2014 season. This was intended as a year of development and preparation for a possible race seat in 2015. As FIA rules strictly limit testing, her work was done in a 2012 Sauber car. In April, she completed at least 190 laps in a Formula One car, at Fiorano, and now qualifies for a Superlicence. She also tested at Valencia during the summer. No times have been published, although a short video was released of her Valencia test. Sauber managers were very positive about her performances in the media, and engineer Paul Russell stated that she had "drove well, had a good pace and was consistent." Simona herself keeps a relatively low media profile. Unfortunately, Simona's sponsor pulled out, leaving her unable to take up any further Sauber drives.

Carmen Jordá - signed as a development driver by Lotus, in February 2015. Her role in the team was rather vague and her duties appear to have been confined to the simulator. She was quietly dropped from Renault F1's test driver roster in 2016, and was referred to instead as a Renault Sport test driver.

Tatiana Calderon - announced as a development driver for Sauber in March 2017. She initially worked in the simulator, but drove the Alfa Romeo Sauber car on two occasions in 2018, one a demonstration run in a current car and one a test in and older machine..

Rosemary Smith - the veteran rally driver did some practice laps in a recent Renault Formula One car in summer 2017. She was 79 years old at the time. The test was purely a media exercise and was made into an advertising video celebrating 40 years of the Renault marque.

Aseel al-Hamad - drove one lap of the Paul Ricard circuit in a non-current Renault F1 car at the 2018 French Grand Prix. Aseel is from Saudi Arabia and her drive was in recognition of Saudi women being given the right to drive in their homeland. No times were published as this was a promotional exercise. In 2022, she did another demo run in an Alpine (Lotus) E20 from 2012, a similar car to the one she used before. The drive was a PR event ahead of hte Saudi Grand Prix and she was joined by recently-recruited Alpine affiliate driver Abbi Pulling. It was a street run and not timed.

Jamie Chadwick - announced as a Williams F1 development driver in May 2019. She has not yet driven the car in public and has mostly worked on the simulator.

Jessica Hawkins - tested a 2021 Aston Martin F1 car in Hungary in September 2023. No times were published, although the team spoke encouragingly of her performance. Jessica is a "driver ambassador" for the team and is not part of its official line-up.

(Image from http://photos.indystar.com/galleries/11311-starfiles-sarah-fisher-s-racing-career)