F1 Academy recruit, Aiva Anagnostiadis, is the Aussie teen redefining motorsport

She's one of the youngest Aussies to do it

The 17-year-old F1 Academy star on pressure, grid parity and breaking new ground for women in motorsport.

You were recently announced as one of the youngest Aussies to ever be accepted into Susie Wolff’s global F1 Academy. How did it feel finding out you were selected to join the program that’s set to create new pathways for women in racing? 

A lot of pressure came off, because if we didn’t have this opportunity, I wouldn’t be racing as it’s such an expensive sport.

I pushed more than I’d ever pushed to get there – I wanted it more than anything. I was truly excited for a moment, but now that the announcement has come out, it’s a bit more real and we’ve got stuff to get done.

We’ve got big goals to hit.

How do you deal with the pressure of performing at an elite level?

I was really bad at handling the pressure when I was in karts. I went to a sports psychologist, which is a side of motorsport people don’t really talk about.

But it’s the way you prepare for a race – and the way you exit a race if you have a bad one – that counts, especially if you’ve got to confront the media. It’s all the little things people don’t see that come into the sport behind the scenes.

Then there’s the pressure before a race, where you’re sitting in the car, in silence. You’ve got lights going out, and you’ve got to react as fast as you can.

But I like that side of things as well because it’s just adrenaline. You use it as adrenaline, and I think that I’ve developed a bit of an addiction.

But I like that side of things as well because it’s just adrenaline. You use it as adrenaline, and I think that I’ve developed a bit of an addiction. Image: @aiva.anagnostiadis on Instagram

Thanks to the global success of Drive to Survive, Formula 1 has never been more popular. Who were your role models coming up through the sport?

When I was younger, I didn’t think, “Oh, there are no other girls here.” I always had my mum racing, so I never really looked elsewhere for someone to look up to. But when I was about 14, I started to reach for a role model and there were never any females at that level.

So I looked to Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton because they were in Formula 1, and even though they were men, I’d think, “OK, well, they’re the best, and I want to be the best, too.”

When I was younger, I didn’t think, “Oh, there are no other girls here.” I always had my mum racing, so I never really looked elsewhere for someone to look up to. Image: @aiva.anagnostiadis on Instagram

Staying mentally and physically tough enough to compete in a sport where every fraction of a second counts can be gruelling. What does your training routine look like?

I’m in the gym twice a day, every day of the week except Sunday. We do strength training five times a week, and the rest is cardio. We train as if we’re doing an Ironman– biking, swimming and running.

I get asked, “Why do you go to the gym so much? You’re just turning a wheel and hitting a red pedal.”

There are 18 corners on the track, and that’s 18 times you have to hit the brake at the equivalent of pressing 100 kilos to stop the car in the span of three seconds.

You have to be quite fit physically to keep your mental fitness, as well. You’re out there doing laps and laps and laps, like swimming, where you have to concentrate. I’ve noticed when I haven’t been physically fit enough for the car, I get mentally tired, and then it’s just an endless spiral.

What impact do you personally hope to have on the future of motorsport?

I’m going to keep trying to make it as mixed gender as possible. I hope that there are enough girls getting involved in the sport where we don’t need to have these F1 Academies. And I hope that when they get to my point, it’s the norm to have parity – half a field of girls and half a field of boys.

Originally published as F1 Academy recruit, Aiva Anagnostiadis, is the Aussie teen redefining motorsport