102 | JULY 2019
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ECTWomen’s Health
white meat, when I’m training, and I make sure I
get my carbs in, too.’ A typical workout week involves
four or five sessions in the gym, working on her
legs, shoulders and core, supplemented with cardio
sessions, like running and cycling. That cardio is
key – the average heart rate of a racing driver for
the duration of their races is 160 to 180bpm, so heart
health is vital. But muscular endurance – achieved
with high reps with a low load – is important, too.
Oh, and don’t forget the burly neck. You know
that feeling when you stick your hand out of the
window on the motorway? Imagine that resistance,
tenfold, applied to your exposed head and neck. If
you don’t want your head to snap back when you
accelerate, you need to work it. ‘I grew my neck by
9cm this year,’ 26-year-old Colombian racer Tatiana
Calderón tells WH. It’s testament to the dedication
of Tatiana, the test driver for F1’s Alfa Romeo team
and one of racing ’s rising stars. The daughter of
a motor sports fan who’d never had the chance to
race himself, Tatiana’s first taste of speed came
at the age of nine – and to this date, she remains
the only woman ever to race in the F2 series (the
imaginatively titled championship that’s one rung
down from F1). She spends two or three sessions
a week training her neck, using a machine that
resembles an instrument of torture. ‘For F1, you
have to be able to pull about 40kg with your neck,
because of the G-force you experience. My shirt
sizes keep going up,’ she laughs.
But it isn’t all about building physical strength.
Imagine accelerating to 140mph in a matter of
seconds and you’ll understand why mental
resilience is so important in this sport. ‘There
are so many things to think about at the same time,’
Tatiana explains. ‘Somebody’s talking to you on
the radio, the engineers are in your ear telling you
things and, at the same time, you’re trying to focus
on your speed.’ She’s playing it down; the steering
wheel on an F1 car looks like someone on acid
tried to redesign Bop It (seriously, google it). There
are roughly 18 different functions – with buttonsand dials covering all sorts of technical adjustments.
‘You need to have lightning-quick reaction times and be
able to think about several things at once,’ adds Jamie.
‘Focus is key – while all this is going on, you’re watching
your speed, your acceleration, the brake balance on the
wheel. But at the same time, you’re going at 140mph and
the tracks are designed to twist and turn.’ Cue exercises
involving catching and throwing with one hand while
doing keepy-uppy with a ping pong ball and a racquet
in the other, or playing two computer games at once.THE FAST LANE
If it all sounds like fun and games, when things go wrong,
the consequences can be catastrophic. ‘Type my name
into YouTube and you’ll see the biggest crash you’ve ever
seen in your life,’ says Katherine Legge, in a matter-of-
fact manner that suggests a comfortable familiarity with
danger; a consequence of almost 20 years in the driver’s
seat. She’s a textbook example of the female racing
driver: talented, determined and virtually unheard of.
And she’s not wrong about that crash. Think: mangled
metal flying from a plume of smoke and rogue tyres
bouncing across the track. The error potential in motor
racing is huge: a brake pedal pressed a moment too late,
water on the track, a cocky approach to a tight corner.
It’s a far cry from the broken shins or tennis elbow other
athletes struggle to return from. ‘It wasn’t scary to get
back in the car,’ adds Katherine. ‘Maybe it would have
been different if it was my fault, but it was a car failure.’
If she sounds blasé, the pre-race rituals the drivers speak
of suggest a subconscious awareness of the danger
they’re in from the moment they step into their cars.
One driver describes meditating before races; for Jamie,
the right glove has to go on before the left; for Katherine,
the last thing she does before climbing into her car is
wipe her feet. Yet, the way these women talk about what
they do, you get the impression that they have a taste for
life in the fast lane. Many are avid skiers; Katherine jumps
out of planes for fun. ‘It used to be about the adrenaline
rush,’ she says. ‘Now, it’s about being in competition –
with myself, as much as with everyone else. There’s
a desire to be better, to be faster, to be stronger.’
And perhaps that’s what really unites these women:
a common (forgive us) drive. Katherine went on to ace her
season in the two-seater Jaguar i-Pace Championship,
making history as the first woman to win a race during
a Formula E weekend. In the headier heights of Formula
Two, crowds in Bahrain watched as Tatiana – now a fully
fledged team driver – smashed her debut race. As for
Jamie? As we go to press, she just won the opening race
of the W Series in Germany. Next stop is Belgium, then
three more races before returning to the UK for the final
race weekend, where she’ll compete for the $500,000
prize. Watching the weekend unfold via her Instagram
stories – posing alongside a hot pink car; selfies with her
fellow drivers; a group shot where they make ‘W’s with
their fingers – one thing is clear: the grid girls are back,
only this time they’re here to win.NAME
Alice Powell
INSTA BIO
@alicepowellracing
CAREER
HIGHLIGHT
Becoming the first
woman to win a
Formula Renault
race in the UK
SECRET SKILL
Not content with
one talent, Alice
has also played
at a national
level for Reading
Hockey ClubNAME
Jessica Hawkins
INSTA BIO
@1jessicahawkins
CAREER
HIGHLIGHT
Winning the
2008 British
Open Karting
Championship
SIDE HUSTLE
Jessica performed
as a stunt driver
on the 2018 Fast
and Furious UK
Live tour – think
synchronised
swimming, in
racing carsJamie Chadwick
in the driver’s seatR
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