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Trailblazing bosses and being stranded with Fernando Alonso: Chloe Chambers’ Racing Idols
With her maiden F1 ACADEMY win in the books, Chloe Chambers will be hungry to add more silverware to her trophy cabinet when the 2024 campaign resumes in a fortnight’s time.
Before that though, we sat down with the Haas driver to find out who has supported and inspired her to get to this point, and she draws parallels between her story and the humble beginnings of one of the greatest racers of all times.
SUSIE WOLFF
“I’ll pick a female racing idol because of course, trailblazing and that is Susie Wolff. I don't know if that's really too unexpected of me to say, especially because she's the Managing Director of F1 ACADEMY. I’ve looked up to Susie ever since I can remember.
“Being young and racing go-karts at the time, there were definitely less women than there are now, especially with all of the female initiatives that have been taking place over the last few years. There wasn’t much to look up to and Susie was one of the most visible and most successful and, of course, involved in Formula 1 driving race cars, which is something that I love to do as well.
“Susie has so much knowledge that she shares some little tidbits here and there. I think all of us in the series have really appreciated what she's done for the sport.”
FERNANDO ALONSO
“I recently signed with A14 Management, which is Fernando Alonso’s management company. Of course, being so close to him and having him so accessible to me has been a real help. I've looked up to him, again, since I can remember. Even today, later on in his career, (he’s) still really showing his speed and experience.
“As long as you're still physically and mentally able to race a car and if you're still enjoying it, then I say why not? Obviously, Fernando is a big testament to that and (he) has been able to make a really successful career and then, (he) has been helping to make the Aston Martin team better. I really hope to see him up there fighting for a World Championship sometime soon.
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“Being part of A14 has been super helpful. During the winter, we did a training camp with Fernando and everybody in that group has been super helpful. They’re all very experienced and knowledgeable in what they do.
“(My favourite Fernando memory is) not exactly from his career, but I rode along with him in a Porsche 992 Cup car and the fuel alarm went off. So, he and I stopped on-track and were stranded together in the middle of this circuit, waiting for the tow truck to come back and get us.”
LEWIS HAMILTON
“I grew up watching Formula 1 back when he was with McLaren and immediately I picked him as my favourite driver. Now keep in mind, this is when I didn't know a lot about racing at the time. This is long before I started driving, so I picked him because I liked the livery — the chrome McLaren livery and his yellow helmet. I thought that really stood out on track a lot, so I picked that as my favourite. But as I got older and learned more about him and his story in motorsport, I really admired the way that he's carried himself all the way up until this day.
“I think one of my most favourite things about him is his relationship with his father. He grew up racing karts with his father as his mechanic. They came from not the wealthiest of places, and I think that's something that my dad and I can actually relate to a lot, and we've always really loved that story. My dad was my mechanic all the way through karting. I grew up with not exactly everything in the world given to me, so I've had to work for a lot of what I've done and I have just admired the way that he's been able to turn that around and make it into such a success.
“He's a big advocate, especially (for) female drivers. He's always given the female drivers and female initiatives a lot of support. I think that if you have that kind of platform, then I say use it, so he's doing that very well.
“Honestly, his first whole season (in F1), just the entire season was something that hasn’t been done before. It was super impressive stepping up into F1. F1 is just its own level, even F2 cars can’t really compare to it. Being able to step into Formula 1 and immediately find success is very, very impressive.”