Rachel Robertson is awaiting one of the most important phone calls of her life.
Soon, the young Scottish racing driver will hear whether she has gained a testing spot for the prestigious F1 Academy – a dream which she has harboured since taking up motorsport in 2022.
The Academy, led by fellow Scot Susie Wolff, focuses on developing and preparing young female drivers to progress to higher levels of competition – with Formula 1 the ultimate goal.
It’s an ambitious dream but one that Robertson is grabbing on to with both hands.
And one you simply wouldn’t put past her, given her remarkable rise in the sport.
In three impressive years, the 18-year-old has gone from complete novice to competing alongside some of the best in the country – with Formula 4 cars beckoning.
Rachel Robertson is making an impression in the world of motor sport at the age of 18
Robertson recently received a grant from Gabby Logan to help fund her F1 dream
Robertson is hoping to eventually make the move up to racing F1 cars
It’s a long way from the days of indoor karting, just outside Edinburgh, where Robertson first dipped her toes into the heady world of racing.
‘There’s nobody in my family who has a big interest in motorsport.’ Robertson told Daily Mail Sport. ‘But I’ve been writing about becoming a Formula 1 driver since I was eight years old.
‘My dad eventually gave in and took me karting at a little indoor track just outside of Edinburgh, and I absolutely loved it.
‘That track then shut down, so it wasn’t until I was 14 that I asked if we could go somewhere again. We ended up going a few times a week and I was always topping the timing sheets, so the staff said I should try something a bit faster.
‘They recommended the Larkhall circuit, where there’s an outdoor track and they’ve got faster rental karts.
‘From there, I got my own Kart, joined a small Scottish team, and by the end of that year, I was racing in national competitions. I raced in the British Car Championships and was topping the boards in practice, just trying to get faster and faster.
‘It was a big learning year, before moving up to the senior category in 2024. I was the only girl racing in the British Kart Championship in the senior category, with all these boys who have been racing since they were really young.
‘There were guys who had done 10, 20 times the number of races that I had, so it was a bit like playing catch up, but I was then lucky enough to win a scholarship to race in the Radical Cup series this year, as a Radical Motorsport and Wera Tools Ambassador. They’re the title sponsors of British F4 and the British Championships in karting.
‘We’ve done five rounds of six so far, and I’m currently sitting third in the championship, which is amazing.’
Robertson is clearly a talent on the up. So much so, in fact, that she’s being backed by TV presenter Gabby Logan, who’s already awarded her £15,000 in a ‘first ‘Gabby Grant’.
The award, Logan says, gives extra help to young aspiring sports women – with Robertson the perfect candidate.
Robertson at the Netflix premiere for their F1 Academy show with Kenny Logan (right)
Logan told Daily Mail Sport: ‘I was asked by my friend Alan Graham, if I would like to donate a sum of money every year to a young sports woman who hasn’t made it yet, but who could use the money on coaching or expenses to further their chances of success.
‘Alan had helped raise money at a dinner celebrating female sports stars and told me he wanted to do this every year. This was to be the first “Gabby Grant”.
‘The timing was incredible, as I had just met Rachel a few weeks beforehand. I was also aware of the F1 Academy, and the opportunity it gives young women, having spent a day there last year.
‘I knew immediately who I wanted to give the first Gabby Grant to. The aim was clear; let’s give Rachel the best chance of a drive in the F1 Academy.
‘Rachel struck me as determined, talented, humble, and hard-working, and I won’t deny the fact that it appealed to me that she was looking to break through to the top, in a sport that is so male dominated.
‘I think there WILL be a female F1 driver in the next decade, whether it is Rachel or not, remains to be seen. I hope that money is not the factor that stops her or any other female driver with this talent.’
Finance, undeniably, is a crucial factor.
Robertson told Daily Mail Sport the cash had gone towards two vital testing days in a Formula 4 car – an essential, she said, for a potential debut in the F1 Academy.
‘The car I’ve raced in this year in the Radical Cup is quite different. It’s more of a supercar, so jumping from that to Formula 4, it’s more like driving a kart again.
‘The Formula 4 car really moves underneath you. It’s such a great car to drive.
Robertson is dreaming big but knows that making it in motor sport costs a lot of money
‘The testing was really positive and at the test I did in Italy, I was only 0.35 seconds off their top driver. The team were like: “How did you do that?!”.’
Testing is vital. At more than £7,000 a pop, however, it’s not cheap.
Moving forward, money becomes an ever-pervading feature. Drivers in the F1 Academy, for example, had to find a staggering £100,000 to be able to compete last year, putting into stark perspective how difficult it is to stay the course in the money-pit world of professional motorsport.
‘The more money you have, the more track time you get, the more you’re going to get better,’ said Robertson.
‘Of course, you’re going to have a leg up on other drivers who can’t afford to do 100 test days before the season even starts.
‘There are a lot of drivers who are classed as rookies, who have done a year, two years prior testing in the car, who then only start racing two years after they’ve tested.
‘For me, I think anything’s possible if you’ve got the right backing, if you’ve got the right support and you’ve got the right mentorship to be able to put yourself in that position.’
For her part, Robertson is hoping that big money sponsors will eventually come forward with more help and support. The teen – who’s in the final year of a motorsport engineering course in Wiltshire – is under no illusion, however, of the difficulties that lie ahead.
‘The short-term goal now is to get myself into the Formula One rookie test, which is this month.
‘If I get the phone call saying I’ve been selected, then that means I can get a chance to prove myself against the other rookie drivers selected. And if it all goes well, then I’ve got a really good shot of getting into the F1 Academy next year as a driver.
‘There is such a high demand for drivers trying to get into the Academy. It wouldn’t be uncommon for these girls to have done 20 test days, which, considering I could only fund two test days with £15,000, is crazy to think about.
The young Scot hopes to make the F1 Academy – and then who knows how far she can go?
‘If I can race in F1 Academy, it proves to a lot of people that despite only seriously starting three years ago, not coming from a multi- millionaire family, not having a have a huge amount of experience, anything is possible.
‘I want to show people that it doesn’t matter. I’ve got here because I wanted to get here. I’ve got the passion to be here. And that’s all that really counts.
‘You know,’ Robertson added,’ I met Max Verstappen once at an indoor kart track and he said that every day, he just thinks about how he can get faster. No matter how many races he has won. He thinks about it every day.
‘That’s the way that I think, too. This sport has been so good for me, mentally. I used to be so socially anxious. Motorsport has taught me to come out of my shell.
‘I’m so grateful for those who have helped me along the way. Not least, Gabby Logan. Formula 4 wouldn’t have even been possible without the grant that she offered me.
‘Gabby and Kenny, her husband, have given me so much support. I would never have been able to even think about F1 Academy if it wasn’t for them. I owe them an enormous amount.’
