TRAILBLAZER | M.VERSTAPPEN

01

14 years of racing have taught me one thing...and that's that being a female in Motorsport is hard. This sport has been so set in its ways for decades that it's not ready for change, even if a change is necessary. Since the age of 10, I have been degraded based on my gender, phrases like "women just don't have the strength to be in this sport" or "she should invest her time in trying to be a grid girl rather than a racer" being thrown at me at such a young age. However, my gender didn't impact my racing at all, it was simply just words coming from boys and their fathers who were upset that I was beating them, so they felt the need to put me down.

I am everything that Motorsport doesn't represent, from my gender all the way to my societal status, but I didn't let this stop me, instead, I let it motivate me to succeed. For most racers success in karting or feeder series is all they needed to be considered good, I knew that it would take me winning a World Championship before I would be taken seriously, so that's exactly what I set out to do. I didn't care if I would have to shut certain parts of my life off, I wasn't going to let anything stop me from proving every single person who dragged me down and doubted me wrong.

I met Danny during my first year in Formula 3, at that time I had been racing for Carlin. We got along instantly with our similar Aussie humor and determination. Despite him being 10 years my senior we saw each other as best friend and equals who would spend all their off time with each other. Daniel was the person who suggested my name to AlphaTauri when the seat first became available. During my first two years of F3, I was good,  but an underperforming car meant that my true talents weren't put on display for others to see.

However, Danny's overall charisma, and what I'm guessing is a lot of begging, led to them considering, and ultimately offering me a contract for the next season.

I couldn't have been more grateful for Daniel, he put his status on the line to propel me forward in my career and help me achieve what no longer seemed like the unachievable. I had to show everyone that it wasn't a mistake that I had gotten a seat and that I wasn't some token girl intended to be there for inclusion and sponsee purposes. I like to think that I was offered the seat based on my skill and my potential, but I knew that my marketing based on my gender may have been a bit of a motivation. Not that I'm going to complain though, my whole life my gender has done nothing for me, so I'm going to take what I can get. I knew I had the skills to keep up with the boys in F1, and Danny did too,  but to the others, I had a lot to prove.

The media was going to be harsh, but I was prepared for that. People were going to talk shit about me, and I knew how to handle that. This was going to be a long journey and I was ready to cop everything that people throw at me.

My past is blocked out, my future isn't on my mind, and all that I had to do was focus on right here right now. I had one plan, and it was quite straightforward,  drive for girls everywhere and win a WDC.

However, the plan only seemed straightforward. He made it so much more complicated.

He was the man who I was fighting against, my biggest rival and roadblock to achieving what I wanted... well at least at first he was.

🏁🏎️

I sit in my hire car just staring out at the warehouse in front of me. Today was the first day that I would meet the drivers of Red Bull, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. Today Daniel and I will be filming a media challenge with Red Bull as a way of introducing the new team before the opening race in Bahrain. I hadn't met any of the others on the grid just yet, as I had spent most of my pre-season time training at the AlphaTauri facilities with Daniel.