Interview
‘A once in a lifetime experience‘ - Hamda Al Qubaisi and Lia Block on making their Goodwood Festival of Speed debuts
Over the weekend, Hamda Al Qubaisi and Lia Block were writing their names into motorsport history as they made their first-ever appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed’s iconic Hillclimb.
The hallmark event of the Festival, the 1.16-mile hill is transformed into a course which puts both modern and historic race cars, road cars and bikes to the test. Centred around the theme of ‘Horseless to Hybrid – Revolutions in Power’, the weekend looked back at the evolution of motoring and cast its eye towards the future.
For the first time, F1 ACADEMY was represented at the prestigious event, with Hamda Al Qubaisi climbing into the cockpit of her #8 car as part of Red Bull Racing’s 20th anniversary celebrations. Featuring current and former members of their racing family, the Emirati racer took to the track in spectacular company, alongside the likes of current Formula 1 drivers Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo and five Championship-winning cars.
“I'm so excited to be here at Goodwood Festival of Speed,” said Al Qubaisi. “It's my first time here, so it's such an exciting experience. I had my first outing as well and I really enjoyed it. It was so exciting to go over the Hillclimb and with the batch of such amazing drivers as well, so (it’s) definitely a memorable experience.
“Being the first driver to drive the F1 ACADEMY car here at Goodwood is an amazing experience and I can’t wait to go again!”
Whilst the Red Bull Racing driver has plenty of practice behind the wheel, she admitted that taking on the Hillclimb was a challenge unlike any she’d experienced before.
“First of all, it was so tight. I expected it to be a bit wider, but it's really, really tight in real life compared to the onboards I've seen, but it was so fun. The track is very slippery, so I got a bit of wheel spin (and) oversteer here and there.
“There’s no grip here compared to normal racetracks. Obviously, a racetrack grips up and there are a lot of drivers going around, but here it was very dusty, very dirty and very, very tight. All you have is grass on the side or even walls, so it's risky, but really fun.
“The atmosphere has been amazing here — so many people, so many cars. I haven’t been in a place with this many cars in my life. I can’t wait to go around and have a look at the other places to see some of the historical cars as well.”
She wasn’t the only member of the 2024 F1 ACADEMY grid to write her name into Festival of Speed history. In less than a year, Block has transitioned from rally to single-seaters, culminating in her making her debut behind the wheel of an F1 car, piloting the legendary Williams FW08 in which Keke Rosberg clinched the 1982 Drivers’ Championship in.
Ahead of taking on the famous Hill on Saturday, the Williams Academy driver was brimming with anticipation. Although the American is no stranger to high-speed, powerful machinery, Block had a chance to shakedown the machinery with a test at Silverstone beforehand and gave us some insight into the biggest differences she discovered.
“It’s really exciting,” Block said. “This is such an iconic festival and I get to be here with such an iconic team and iconic car, so it's everything all together. It's just perfect and the atmosphere here is great — so many people!”
“This car is car is super different. I think coming from the F1 ACADEMY car and knowing how a single-seater works — the ins and outs of warming up tyres and stuff. Also, coming from the background of driving crazy powerful cars like the Hoonipigasus and the Hoonicorn definitely mixes it all together, but (it’s) unlike anything I’ve ever driven before.”
She added: “I didn’t really believe it, I’m not going to lie. When I sat in the F1 car for the first time, I was like ‘are you guys joking? You’re really going to let me drive this?’ But they did! It was a bit scary. Coming from the F1 ACADEMY car, which doesn’t have (as much) power, to an F1 car, even for how old it is, it’s just so powerful and cool. There’s a lot more power! You sit much (further) forward, you don’t have a front wing and it’s very incomparable besides having four wheels.”
Joking about the words of wisdom F1 driver Logan Sargeant had given her the day before her run, Block admitted: “I was actually talking to Logan yesterday and I asked, ‘so what’s your tips for going up the hill?’ He was like ‘just make all the corners, smile and wave.’ I was like ‘yeah, definitely!’ I’m going to rub it out a little bit and make the crowd happy.”
Beaming from ear-to-ear after her run, Block remarked: “It was a really, really fun thing to do. It felt like a once in a lifetime experience, especially to do it with this Williams team. The (Williams) Heritage guys are amazing to get this car ready for me to go up and to do it on the Goodwood Hillclimb for the first time.”
“It was definitely a bit fast. I swear I was on the start line and suddenly, I was on the finish line. But it was so cool to see all the crowd, spin some tyres and rev it out a little bit.
“It’s awesome to be here. It’s a festival that I’ve been coming to since I was really little, and I think this is the first time I’ll remember it and the best time I’ll remember.”