{"id":231411,"date":"2025-10-22T08:14:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T08:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/231411\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T08:14:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T08:14:09","slug":"the-f1-women-inspiring-schoolgirls-into-motorsport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/231411\/","title":{"rendered":"The F1 women inspiring schoolgirls into motorsport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Primary school girls have been learning from women in motorsport to “broaden their horizons” and consider engineering as a future career.<\/p>\n

The Northamptonshire-based Mercedes F1 team hosted a F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) Girls on Track event, showcasing careers in motorsport to primary school girls.<\/p>\n

The event saw 42 girls, aged eight to 11, visit the Mercedes factory in Brackley, and participate in different activities relating to different career paths in the industry.<\/p>\n

Jenny Fletcher, FIA Girls on Track UK programme manager, said: “We have so many women that are now working in F1 teams, touring car teams, and living their dream. I feel blessed every day to do what I do.”<\/p>\n

The organisers said that age group was particularly important because girls often believed they would not excel at maths, physics or science at GCSE level.<\/p>\n

Grace, a nine-year-old student who attended, said the best thing she learned at the event was that “girls can do anything”.<\/p>\n

\"Four<\/p>\n

Imogen Tait, second from left, charity and community outreach activities lead at Mercedes F1, said events like this would have helped her realise her potential [Rhianna Venables\/BBC]<\/p>\n

Ms Fletcher added: “I never thought I would get a job in motorsport.<\/p>\n

“I thought that I was a teacher and that was very much what I was going to be, but I put myself out there – and if I hadn’t have done that, who knows where I might be now.”<\/p>\n

The event showcased different career paths, including STEM based activities – where they design, build and code a Lego F1 car – a well as learning about teamwork and reaction times, the media and TV production – and meeting and hearing the stories of women within the industry.<\/p>\n

They also saw a show car display as well as winning trophies and driver kits.<\/p>\n

Ms Fletcher said it meant “the absolute world” seeing the event in action, adding: “We’re now seeing it [the programme] work.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Sophie Harrison, the inclusion and social impact programme lead at Mercedes F1, said the team hoped to become role models to young students [Rhianna Venables\/BBC]<\/p>\n

Imogen Tait, 27, the charity and community outreach activities lead at Mercedes F1, said: “An event like this would have allowed me to believe much earlier on that there was just as much right for me to be in this sport as anybody else.”<\/p>\n

Reliability engineer student Lauren O’Mahony, 20, said: “I think it’s so important to give them that tangible part, as it really connects your learning to what you could do in the future.”<\/p>\n

Amy Scerri, 20, a composite manufacturing engineer student, said she had been to a similar event at school and wanted to give back.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s incredibly impactful to teach young girls what engineering is at a young age so that they can make informed decisions about it, because I only found out what engineering was almost too late.”<\/p>\n

Brackley caretaker Jodie Norman, who attended the event with a group of students, said: “I think it just broadens their horizons and they’re not just narrowed to what they see or what what they ‘should’ be doing as girls.”<\/p>\n

Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a> and X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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