FIA Girls on Track – Rising Stars

It’s an innovative new project to detect and nurture the up and coming women drivers of the future. The project is run in association with Scuderia Ferrari and aims to identify the best 12-16 year old female drivers from around the world and help them towards having a professional career in motor sport. With support from the FIA Innovation Fund, which backs new projects intended to generate an enduring legacy for the global FIA community, the Women in Motorsport Commission has partnered with Scuderia Ferrari and its world-famous Ferrari Driver Academy (FDA) to jointly develop a strong and long-term pathway to support young women on their motor sport journey. The collaboration sees both parties commit to a four-year programme resulting in two drivers potentially joining the Ferrari Driver Academy for a season in one of the European FIA Formula 4 Championships.

Twenty drivers from five continents have already been selected and will now be invited to a shoot-out in October hosted by the Winfield Racing School, the iconic and historical racing school based at the Circuit Paul Ricard renowned for being the nursery for most of the well-known drivers from the 70s to the 90s. From here, 12 drivers will be selected to undergo two different karting and Formula 4 focused training camps in October and November, also hosted by Winfield Racing School along with kart partner, Praga. Just four drivers will then be selected to attend a one-week course at the Ferrari Driver Academy, also in November. Based in Maranello, Italy, the aim of the Academy is to help shape drivers across different aspects of personal preparation and driving technique, as well as introducing them to the sport’s economic and media world.

With Ferrari having an option to renew the driver’s contract for an additional year, its first female racing driver could also compete in 2022 under the FDA banner. And, as this is a four-year programme, in 2021 the process will start again and so will see another four candidates evaluated at Maranello, with the best again racing in Formula 4. Therefore, by the end of 2022, two young women could be part of the Ferrari Driver Academy and racing in European championships.