OK! Magazine UK – 26 August 2019

74

LIVINGLIFEINTHEFASTLANE

‘GETTINGSPONSORSHIP

CANBEDIFFICULT

ASAWOMAN’

W

omen’s sport has finally begun to get the

mainstream media coverage it deserves.

This summer saw England’s Lionesses

score the most watched TV programme of

2019 with their dramatic World Cup semi-final against

the USA, and 15-year-old Coco Gauff becoming the

undeniable star of Wimbledon. One woman hoping

to continue that trend is Alice Powell, who dreams of

standing on the Formula 1 podium.

Alice, 26, balances training sessions while working

at her dad’s building company,

proving she certainly isn’t shy

of putting in a bit of graft to

reach her goals.

In 2010, Alice was the first

woman to win a Formula

Renault championship,

and just two years later she

became the first woman

to score points in the GP3

Series, now the FIA Formula 3

Championship. But becoming

a driver for the all-female W

Series was her turning point,

after years of struggling to find

sponsorship. Alice recently

completed six races for the

team, securing a win in the final event, and third place

overall, netting a cash prize of £100,000.

One person supporting her is her fiancé, golf club

manager James Rodley, 37, who she lives with at her

parents’ home near Oxford.

Here, Alice tells us her ambitions to smash through

the glass ceiling in a male-dominated field, before

James joins us to discuss their low-key romance...

Alice, how did you start out in motor racing?

I’ve been interested in motor

sports for as long as I can

remember. I went go-karting

for the first time when I was

eight. A father said to his son:

‘You can’t lose to a girl.’ That

comment has stuck with me. For

a while I wanted to be a boy as I

thought that was the way to be

successful, but then I realised

you can do it as a woman!

Have you had to deal with a

lot of sexist comments during

your career?

Yes, such as I should be in

the kitchen, and: ‘A female

Alice dreams of

standing on the

Formula 1 podium

Alice won the

W Series final

race last week

RACINGCARDRIVER ALICEPOWELL AND

HERFIANCEJAMESRODLEYTELLOK!’SJOSIECOPSON

WHYSHEFEELSATHOMEONTHETRACK