But often it’s the people behind the scenes that bring those dreams to life.
And it’s one of those roles that is the goal of Wrexham woman April Prince, who is a step closer to realising her own dream.
The 19-year-old is a huge Formula 1 fan, and aspires to be an F1 engineer. Last month she started a degree in automotive engineering at Wrexham University.
F1 Academy driver Esmee Kosterman, whose car featured faces of other inspirational women, including April Prince.(Image: )
This summer she was chosen as an inspiring woman, for her engineering and STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) work, to be on the livery on the F1 Academy Wildcard car at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Chosen by Teamviewer – sponsors of Mercedes F1 team and F1 Academy – April was taken as a VIP to see the car, featuring her and other inspiring women’s faces. She got to meet the driver Esmee Kosterman and her team, plus her hero Susie Wolff.
Susie Wolff was herself a professional racing driver and is the current managing director of F1 Academy.
April Prince was a guest at the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix.(Image: )
April’s path toward STEM started young. As a nine-year-old, she made headlines as a member of Team Glitterbomb on popular BBC TV show, Robot Wars, and she has gone on to own her own business delivering STEM workshops.
She is all about inspiring others, and said: “I hold presentations to influence young girls and boys into STEM.
“I’ve been doing that from quite a young age. Robot Wars was the starting point to build my business off.
“One of my main goals was to influence as many kids as I could into engineering and technology.”
Special moment for April Prince, who got to meet F1 Academy MD Susie Wolff.(Image: )
April grew up around the subjects and in an encouraging environment, adding: “I fell in love with it. It called to me, I like solving things and working things out.
“It was an industry not many people my age at the time looked into.”
April believes some are put off by the perceived lack of creativity in STEM but highlights it’s quite the opposite. She said: “They even changed the abbreviation a few years ago to STEAM, to include the art part of it, although people still mainly refer to it as STEM
“Art is a huge part of it. In order to make something brilliant, you need to design it first.”
April Prince getting up close to the F1 teams during the Dutch Grand Prix.(Image: )
Her recent visit to the Dutch Grand Prix at the Circuit Zandvoort was an unforgettable experience.
A massive fan of the sport, April was thrilled to get up close with the technology, and meet some of the figures within the sport.
The fan of seven-time drivers’ championships Lewis Hamilton, said: “I’m probably more of a fan of F1 than anything else, and my main goal in life is to become an F1 engineer.
“When I went to the Dutch Grand Prix, they opened me up to opportunities to speak with engineers and industry people who could help me in my career.”
April Prince with F1 Academy MD Susie Wolff.(Image: )
Meeting Susie Wolff was also a memorable moment. April had joined the icon’s female motorsport initiative Dare To Be Different (D2BD) at a young age. This later became known as Girls On Track.
April said: “Susie Wolff was absolutely amazing, better than expected. If I was speaking about something I was passionate about, she was really into the conversation.
“She created D2BD to bring young girls into the industry, and I joined when I was quite young. I’m still a member today.
“I was telling her how inspirational and amazing that what she put together was, and how it’s helped so many people.”
April Prince’s face was featured on an F1 Academy car.(Image: )
Seeing her face on the academy car was another incredible moment. April added: “To see it up close was awesome, and got to meet the driver and the team, including the engineering team.
“I got to speak with the driver Esmee in detail about her experience with the car and all the technical side.
“It was the most surreal experience I had there. It meant I got to get up really close to the cars, and that was probably the coolest thing of the event.”
F1 isn’t a sport for the light-hearted, and to make it anywhere in the industry takes phenomenal dedication.
April would be absolutely honoured to be a part of any team but her dream would be to join McLaren, who currently lead this year’s championship.
Pursuing STEM has opened up a whole new world for April, and she’s just getting started.
Her advice for any young person nervous thinking about heading towards STEM? “Don’t overthink it, don’t second guess yourself, and go for what you believe in.”