Hawkins predicts female F1 driver within 'few years' as Academy raises the bar

Jessica Hawkins believes a female Formula 1 driver is only a few years away, telling the Road to Success podcast that she is certain women are physically capable of competing at the sport’s highest level — and that the F1 Academy is now producing the talent to prove it.

The Aston Martin driver ambassador and former W Series racer made history in 2023 when she became the first woman in nearly five years to test modern F1 machinery, driving the Aston Martin AMR21 in Hungary. That experience informed her confidence when asked whether she expects to see a woman on the grand prix grid in her lifetime.

“I think we’re a few years away from it. But I do believe it will happen,” the 31-year-old Briton said. “I would be a fraud if I sat here and said I didn’t think that would happen because I do believe it. If I were to say no, it would go against everything I stand for.”

Hawkins also pushed back firmly on the notion that physical strength is a barrier for women in F1. Her neck struggled after completing half a race distance in the AMR21, but she was clear that the cause was a lack of recent single-seater mileage, not biology.

“I am absolutely convinced women are strong enough for Formula 1,” she said. “My neck was really struggling. But I think every single person’s first time in a Formula 1 car, their neck struggled. That wasn’t because I was a female. That was also because I hadn’t been racing in a Formula 2 championship leading up to it. I could have done a race distance if it wasn’t for my neck.”

Hawkins reserved particular praise for the F1 Academy, the all-female single-seater series launched to give young women meaningful track time and early career visibility that she says simply did not exist when she was coming through the ranks.

“If you look at F1 Academy, wow, I could have only dreamt of that at my age,” she said. “Some of them probably don’t realise what it was like even just a few years ago. The championship has the ability to really make some drivers. Some will go into it and they’ll sink. Some will go into it and they’ll swim. And the ones that swim — they’re the ones that are good enough to go up and fight for these Formula 1 seats.”