Kornelia Olkucka

Kornelia Olkucka is a Polish single-seater racer who has competed in F4 across Europe.

She raced in CEZ F4 in 2024. This was her debut in cars and she raced for the Swiss Maffi team. The first two rounds at Balaton Park and the Red Bull Ring were tough for her, but she became a reliable finisher, with a best finish of sixth at Brno. Her team withdrew her from the last round at Salzburg and she was 17th in the championship, second of the three female regulars behind Michalina Sabaj.

Staying with the Maffi set-up, she entered the Formula Winter Series at the start of 2025. Her aims were mostly learning still, and she did finish all twelve races. This was in spite of some of them being rather incident-filled, including one at Valencia where her two of her rivals were penalised for pushing her off the track. Her best finish was at Catalunya, where she was 20th in the final race of the year. This was her second top-twenty after another at Valencia. She was 37th in the championship.

This was preparation for a season in Italian F4 in 2025. The Maffi team entered four drivers, two more experienced and two rookies, Kornelia and David Walther. The first round at Misano was a tough one; she was 27th in the first race, despite suffering tyre damage following contact, then 26th in her second heat, but she did not qualify for the final. The Vallelunga rounds were also in a heats-and-final format, and the weather was bad to boot. Kornelia finished one of her races in 22nd place, having spun out of Race 1 due to contact with another car. Again, she did not qualify for the final. At Monza and Mugello, she finished all three races both times, scoring a best result of 26th, at Monza. Unfortunately, she then had two DNFs at Imola. It was a chaotic meeting and Race 2 had to be cancelled completely after a startline pile-up. Kornelia received a three-place grid penalty for crashing into her team-mate in an attempt to avoid stationary cars. At the time of writing, there are two more rounds left on the calendar.

Prior to her switch to cars, she was a karter from the age of 14, and represented Poland at the 2022 Motorsport Games in the Karting Endurance category. She has expressed interest in sports psychology and suggested it as a future career move.

(Image copyright Maffi Racing/Kornelia Olkucka)

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)

Alisha Palmowski

Alisha Palmowski began her racing career in Ginetta Juniors in 2022, aged 15. She was the winner of the Ginetta Junior Scholarship and her prize was a full season’s racing in the championship. She describes this win as a turning point in her career; without it, she might never have switched to cars from karts.

Her scholarship followed six years of karting, during which she finished strongly in two junior categories. Although she quickly became competitive, she had no great interest in doing sports as a child, and only watched motorsport on TV.

Her best results were two eighth places at Knockhill in July and the challenging Brands Hatch GP circuit, in October. This was one of six top-ten finishes she earned that year and she was thirteenth in the championship. A run in the Ginetta Winter Series followed; the four-round series was held at Brands Hatch and she picked up one second and one third place.

In 2023, she was fifth in the championship, with ten podiums from 24 races. She was third in her second race of the season at Oulton Park, then second twice at Silverstone, setting herself up for a strong run in her final year as a junior racer.

Switching to single-seaters, she entered the GB4 championship in 2024 and was immediately on the pace again, winning the first round at Oulton Park, one of her best circuits. This was one of three wins that year, which gave her second in the championship, with eight additional podium finishes.

Impressing many onlookers by getting to grips with GB4 so quickly, she was selected as a wildcard entry for the Bahrain F1 Academy round and finished fifth in the one race which took place. This led to a full-time Academy seat in 2025, driving for the Campos team as Red Bull's supported driver. She has spoken openly about being quite star-struck in the F1 paddock, but it did not affect her performance.

At the end of 2024, she took part in the Formula E Women's Test at Jarama, driving for the Envision team with Alice Powell.

To prepare for her upcoming season, she entered the Formula Winter Series at the start of 2025, alongside her Campos team-mates, Chloe Chambers and Rafaela Ferreira. All three did two rounds each, with Alisha taking the first two at Algarve and Ricardo Tormo. She was the highest-placed of the three, coming in 23rd in the championship. Algarve was her best circuit; she was thirteenth twice and twelfth once.

She could not have hoped for a better start to her 2025 F1 Academy season. An incident-strewn first race at Shanghai meant that a calm and determined Alisha was able to take her first win. She followed it with a sixth place, and was then third and fourth at Jeddah, and second at Miami.

(Image copyright Red Bull)

Rafaela Ferreira

Rafaela Ferreira races single-seaters in Brazil. She began her senior career in 2023, after several years in karting and some tests in F3 and F4 cars. She had been active in karting since the age of eight, inspired by her father who raced and built karts.

After a couple of races in Formula Inter in the States, which uses the same car as US F4, she took away two fourth places, and was ready to tackle Brazilian F4.

Her first race at Interlagos in Brazilian F4 led to an 11th place, then a sixth and a ninth. At the time, she was the first female driver to race in the championship.

In 2023, she gradually improved over the season, taking her first podium in December with third at Interlagos. She was thirteenth in the championship.

She entered the 2024 F4 Brazil series a stronger driver. The first race of the season ended in a third place for her at Velo Citta, followed by a seventh and then a second. A couple of indifferent races at Interlagos followed, but when the championship returned to Velo Citta, she scored her first win. She won again at the away round in Buenos Aires, as well as picking up a second place, one of nine podiums during the year. Inerlagos had always been something of a bogey track for her, but by the end of the season, she even managed a second there. She was fourth in the championship.

At the end of 2024, she was signed by Racing Bulls for their 2025 F1 Academy entry, driving for the Campos team. She may also do some additional racing.

(Image from Brazilian F4)

Cecilia Rabelo

Cecilia Rabelo is a Brazilian driver who began her senior career in 2022.

She was 15 years old when she took part in two rounds of the Paulista Formula Delta championship, finishing ninth and eighth.

Her first full season was meant to be spent competing in the Brazilian F4 championship in 2023, driving for the Cavaleiro Sport team. After two tenths and an eleventh in the first meeting at Interlagos, she missed a couple of meetings due to an injury she sustained in a crash at Interlagos. She returned for the fourth round at Goiania, improving over the weekend with a twelfth, eleventh and then seventh place. The series moved back to Interlagos and Cecilia surprised onlookers with two pole positions, although she could not convert these to podium finishes: she was seventh and 13th in the two races she finished. Her season finished with a disqualification, a tenth and an eleventh place. She was 15th overall.

Her second F4 season started with a move to the Bassani Racing team. The year began well with a sixth and fourth place at Mogi Guacu, as well as a ninth, although her early improvements were overshadowed by her female rival Rafaela Ferreira finishing on the podium. The fourth place remains her best finish of the year at the time of writing, although she did manage to out-perform Rafaela Ferreira in the next round at Interlagos. A series of DNFs later on did not help her. At present, she is thirteenth in the championship.

At the end of the 2024 season, Cecilia joined up with Porsche racewinner Antonella Bassani and former skateboarder Leticia Bufoni to enter the Interlagos 500km. Their car was a Porsche 991 and they were 30th overall, seventh in class. They had been running slightly higher, but a slow pitstop lost them a place. This was Cecilia's second Porsche Cup race, having entered the round at Buenos Aires earlier in the season.

(Image from blogdomadeira.com.br)

Tina Hausmann

 

Tina Hausmann is a Swiss driver racing single-seaters in Europe.

Her first experience of car racing, after some success in karts in Switzerland, was in the 2023 Formula Winter Series, a Formula 4 championship based in Spain. She surprised many with a fourth and third place in her first-ever events at Jerez, but the next round at Ricardo Torme was a disappointment for her, with a pair of DNFs. She only did half of the eight-race championship.

During the 2023 summer season, she contested both Italian F4 and its associated Euro4 championship but did not score any points. Her best finish was 16th at Paul Ricard. A Race 1 accident on the second lap at Misano led to her wthdrawal from the rest of the round, although she did return for the next races at Spa.

For 2024, she signed up for both the UAE F4 series and the all-female F1 Academy. Aston Martin selected her as its supported driver for F1A and she was part of the Prema team. Her team-mates Doriane Pin and Maya Weug had considerably more experience, with Doriane having raced at Le Mans and both having competed in FRECA. She started well with a sixth place at Jeddah, but was unable to match it until the end of the year, when she was fourth at Abu Dhabi. Usually, she was a top-ten finisher, but she has not yet got near the podium. Technical problems have played their part in this.

Her UAE campaign ended up being one round at Yas Marina, driving for Xcel Motorsport. She finished two of her three races, in 27th and 21st place.

Tina was previously active in karting and esports.

(Image copyright F1 Academy)

F1 Academy

F1 Academy is the latest in a long line of female-only development championships, launched in 2023. 

It was brought forward by the FIA after the demise of W Series and unlike W Series, has the support of the FIA and its Women in Motorsport Commission.

The championship uses F4 cars with an uprated aero package. There are five independent teams, each running three drivers each. All five are major players in global junior single-seater competition. Drivers must have an appropriate license and be aged between 16 and 25 at the start of the year. They are recruited by the teams privately. Each driver has to bring about £150k in funds to compete, but this is considerably less than it costs to take part in the equivalent mixed F4 championship in their region. Each race seat is subsidised by the teams and the FIA. The championship's CEO is Susie Wolff.

As well as seven meetings with three races (reduced to two in 2024)  at each, F1 Academy drivers have access to 15 official test days throughout the year, giving them a large amount of track time for their investment. 

The aim of the championship is progression, so the winner each year has to move on. No-one may spend more than two seasons in the series.

Prema, one of the Academy teams, offered a Formula Regional Europe (FRECA) race seat to 2023 winner Marta Garcia. Teams who sign any F1 Academy driver finishing first, second or third into FRECA are allowed to run a fourth car for that driver.

2023 Results

1. Marta Garcia (Prema)

2. Lena Buhler (ART Grand Prix)

3. Hamda al-Qubaisi (MP Motorsport)

4. Nerea Marti (Campos)

5. Abbi Pulling (Rodin Carlin)

6. Amna al-Qubaisi (MP Motorsport)

7. Bianca Bustamante (Prema)

8. Jessica Edgar (Rodin Carlin)

9. Emely de Heus (MP Motorsport)

10. Lola Lovinfosse (Campos)

11. Carrie Schreiner (ART Grand Prix)

12. Chloe Grant (ART Grand Prix)

13. Megan Gilkes (Rodin Carlin)

14. Chloe Chong (Prema)

15. Maite Caceres (Campos)

2024

The second F1 Academy season increased its links with Formula 1. Each F1 team chose an Academy driver to support, meaning that two-thirds of the grid ran with F1-related liveries. The race weekends were run alongside seven F1 rounds. Instead of three races, two would be held.

An extra car for a wildcard driver from the country the race is held in was provided for some rounds.

The non-F1 affiliated cars attracted some high-profile sponsors, including Tommy Hilfiger and Charlotte Tilbury cosmetics.

There were six new full-time drivers, after Marta Garcia and Lena Buhler moved into FRECA, with Buhler ageing out of the competition. Megan Gilkes retired from racing and Chloe Chong, Maite Caceres and Chloe Grant went to race elsewhere.

2024 Results

1. Abbi Pulling (Rodin/Alpine) 

2. Doriane Pin (Prema/Mercedes)

3. Maya Weug (Prema/Ferrari)

4. Nerea Marti (Campos)

5. Hamda al-Qubaisi (MP Motorsport/Red Bull)

6. Chloe Chambers (Campos/Haas)

7. Bianca Bustamante (ART Grand Prix)

8. Lia Block (ART Grand Prix/Williams)

9. Carrie Schreiner (Campos/Sauber)

10. Tina Hausmann (Prema/Aston Martin)

11. Emely de Heus (MP Motorsport)

12. Aurelia Nobels (ART Grand Prix)

13. Jessica Edgar (Rodin)

14. Lola Lovinfosse (Rodin)

15. Amna al-Qubaisi (MP Motorsport/Racing Bulls)

Maite Caceres

 

Maite Caceres is a Uruguayan driver who has done most of her racing in the USA. 

She entered the 2022 US F4 championship, driving for International Motorsport, after testing an F4 car as part of an event organised by W Series. She was not selected to go further with W Series testing. Her best result in US F4 was a twelfth place at Road America. She missed several races in the middle of the season. 

As well as F4, she entered the last part of the USF Juniors championship, managing eleventh places at Road America and COTA. 

Previously, she raced in the Uruguayan F4 series, beginning in late 2021. She scored one third place at El Pinar. She was ninth in the championship.

For 2023, she competed in the all-female F1 Academy F4 championship, driving for Campos Racing with Nerea Marti and Lola Lovinfosse. It was not a good year for her and she was 15th in the final standings, out of 15 drivers. Her best results were two eighth places, achieved at Monza and Paul Ricard. 

As preparation, Campos had entered her into the Formula Winter Series at the beginning of the year.

Her time in F1 Academy was limited to a single season and she moved into the Ligier JS F4 series in the States, driving for the International Motorsport team. This proved to be a good move; she was second and third in her first two races at NOLA, on her way to championship third with three more third places.

Her brother is Juan Caceres, who raced in Champ Car.

Image from rginternetpress.com

Victoria Blokhina

 

Victoria Blokhina races junior single-seaters in Europe. She currently competes under an Italian license although she is Russian.

She made her single-seater debut in 2022 aged 16. She entered the UAE F4 championship with R-ace GP and did 16 of the 20 championship rounds, sitting out the last meeting at Yas Marina in favour of Maksim Arkhangelsky. She usually finished, but struggled for pace and had a best finish of 19th at Yas Marina, early in the season. Her final championship position was 32nd. This was followed by a season in Italian F4 with PHM Motorsport, which yielded a 34th place, driving for PHM Racing. Her best finish by far was a twelfth place at the Red Bull Ring.

She also did three Spanish F4 races at Catalunya, finishing 28th twice. 

The UAE championship runs over the winter season and Victoria returned at the end of 2022, driving for the R2Race Cavicel team this time. A single outing in the non-championship Trophy race gave her a sixth and eleventh spot, her best of the year, driving for the Xcel team. Her season with R2Race was more of a challenge, and two 22nd places in the final meeting at Yas Marina were her high points. She was 44th in the championship.

Although she was eligible, she decided against entering the all-female F1 Academy and signed again for Italian F4. She rejoined the PHM team as part of a four-car squad. The early part of the season was more promising for her and she finished 15th at both Imola and Misano, one of three top-twenty finishes. Her year took an unwelcome turn at Spa, where she had a frightening crash in Race 1 which destroyed her car. Neither she nor Guido Luchetti, who sent her car flipping over into a barrier, were injured. She returned for the Monza round. At the end of the season, she was 35th in the championship and second in the three-driver women’s championship.

She moved up to Eurocup-3 in 2024, competing for the Drivex School team. Despite finishing eleventh in the season-opening, non-championship Aragon round, she struggled somewhat for pace. A twelfth place at Catalunya at the end of the season, from 20 finishers was a highlight.

She has been retained by Drivex for the 2025 Eurocup.

Prior to her F4 debut, she competed in karting internationally in 2019 and 2020. She was a finalist in the FIA Girls on Track competition in 2021.

(Image copyright PHM Racing)

Kattlyn Magno

 

Kattlyn Magno, known as Kaká, is a Brazilian driver who has raced in multiple disciplines, in Brazil and Europe.

She began her senior career in 2012 in Formula Premium Light, a single-seater series. She also tried out the Veloce sports prototype championship. It was quite a late start in cars for her; she was 24 and had been karting since she was 16. 

In 2013, she mostly seems to have competed in kart races, but she did do some dirt-track racing in aid of a breast cancer charity. At the end of 2013, she was chosen as Brazil’s candidate for the FIA Women in Motorsport VW Scirocco-R Shootout, competing for a Scirocco prize-drive in 2014. This was her first racing trip to Europe. A key supporter in this adventure was Emerson Fittipaldi, who met Kaká through Bia Figueiredo.

She did not win the championship spot, although she performed well in the event. A move to race in a Lotus-based championship, possibly the Ladies’ Cup, also did not come off.

Back in Brazil, she made some appearances in the 2014 Mercedes Benz Challenge C250 Cup. She was second at San Pablo, a highlight of her career that showed what she was capable of. 

She raced in the Mercedes one-make series again in 2015, but was not among the front-runners. 

In 2016, she changed direction again, and entered Formula Inter, a junior single-seater series in Brazil. She scored at least one second place. 

She moved on to SudAm Formula 4 in 2017, having sold raffle tickets to be able to afford the fees and pay her mechanic. 

After a single season in F4, she then raced Superkarts in 2018. 

In 2021, she did some rounds of the Italian prototype championship, sharing a Wolf sportscar. This was a second attempt at a move to Italy; she had planned to race in the Griiip G1 single-seater championship in 2020 before the global coronavirus crisis intervened. Instead, she made do with a Griiip sim racing series.

Sadly, her Prototype challenge ended after the Monza races, which she did not even start.

In a switch of disciplines, she competed in the 2022 FIA Motorsport Games in the Slalom category. She and Bruno Pierozan were 17th overall. She contested the Stock Car series in Brazil in 2023, competing in its second-tier championship. From her earliest media interviews, she has always claimed this was her goal. She did another season of the second-level Stock series in 2014, finishing twelfth in the championship, with a best finish of seventh at Goiania.

Image copyright Acervo Pessoal

Chloe Chambers

 

Chloe Chambers is a Chinese-born American single-seater driver who became the first woman to win a round of the Formula Regional Oceania series (formerly the Toyota Racing Series).

She started her senior career aged 16 in 2021, after eight years of karting, during which she won several regional titles. She joined the US F4 Championship having won the inaugural PMH “Powering Diversity” scholarship, driving for the Future Star team. Her best finish in F4 was a seventh place at Brainerd, although this was only her second top ten of the year. The first was a tenth place at Mid-Ohio in June. She was 26th in the championship. 

Using the same Ligier F4 car, she entered two rounds of the Eastern Pro 4 Challenge at Autobahn, finishing fourth and third. 

She was selected for the 2022 W Series championship, racing for the Jenner team. Her best circuit was Miami, where she was tenth, and she was 16th in the championship. On the track, she had managed a seventh place in the first Miami race of the season, but a penalty for overtaking during a safety car period dropped her to seventh. Her W Series connections led to an FIA F3 test organised by Bruno Michel, but nothing seems to have come of it and no times were published.

Using the same car as she had used for part of the W season, she entered the 2023 Formula Regional Oceania championship, driving for Giles Motorsport. It was not the most consistent of seasons, but she took advantage of a reversed grid at Taupo to secure her win, leading the entire race and only challenged by Kaleb Ngatoa. Her previous best result had been a fifth place at Highlands and she was usually in the lower reaches of the top ten. She was ninth in the championship. 

During the summer season, she moved into sportscars and raced in the Porsche Sprint Challenge in the USA. She did most of the season and was a front-runner in the Cayman class, finishing sixth in Pro-Am.

She was selected for the second season of the all-female F1 Academy in 2024, driving for the Campos team. From the beginning, she was among the leading drivers, and she won her first race at Barcelona after her first podium at the preceding round at Miami. She was sixth overall.

Sportscars were still part of her plans; she did some rounds of the Porsche Sprint Challenge in the States, winning the Pro-Am class in two of her four races. She also made a couple of guest appearances in the IMSA Mustang Challenge, with a best finish of seventh at Mid-Ohio.

In addition to this, she holds a world record for auto slalom, driving a production Porsche 718 Spyder. She is an ambassador for the Gift of Adoption Fund, being an adoptee herself.

(Image copyright Chloe Chambers)

Rio Shimono

 

Rio Shimono is a Japanese driver who won her class in the Japanese TCR championship in 2020.

She made her major debut in the 2020 Japanese TCR series, although this was delayed by the coronavirus outbreak. 

The 19-year-old drove a Honda Civic run by Drago Corse when the championship restarted and won the Bronze class outright. She was second in the main Saturday series championship with one race win at Suzuka. She was fourth in the Sunday series that ran alongside it, with third places at Twin Ring Motegi and Suzuka.

During 2020 she became friendly with her fellow Drago Corse driver Tatiana Calderon, who was racing for the team in Super Formula. 

In 2021, she was third in the Kyojo Cup, an all-female one-make sportscar championship in Japan. Drago Corse ran her car. She entered the Kyojo Cup, which has a short season, again in 2022.

Rio previously raced in the Super FJ Series in Japan, an entry-level championship based at the Okuyama circuit. She scored two wins during the 2019 season, which was her first as a racing driver.

In 2022, she returned to single-seaters, entering the F4 Japan championship with Zap Speed team. Her season started badly with a lowly 34th place at Fuji, but she improved dramatically to 16th place in the second Fuji race. At the next rounds at Suzuka, she was 22nd and 34th, falling in the middle of the three Zap Speed cars. She did four more races, entering the top twenty once more at Suzuka with an 18th place.

Her second F4 Japan season gave her a 19th place. She was seventh in the first round at Fuji, but could not match that performance for the rest of the year. Normally, she was in the lower half of the top 20.

She improved slightly in 2024, driving for the Dr Dry team she had joined in the second half of 2013. She picked up two top-ten finishes at Motegi and Suzuka, the best of these being a ninth at Motegi. She was also third in the Kyojo Cup.

Her long-term ambition is the World Touring Car Championship.

(Image copyright Japan TCR)