Did you know that women are allowed to compete in Formula 1 (F1)? But despite there being no gender restrictions on participation, there have been very few female drivers in the sport, and none have competed in recent years. 

In fact, only five female drivers have officially competed in a Formula 1 Grand Prix – Maria Teresa de Fillipis (1958-159), Lella Lombardi (1974-1976), Divina Galica (1976) Desiré Wilson (1980), and Giovanna Amati (1992).

Hoping to join this illustrious list is 16-year-old Maisy Creed, who has been breaking boundaries and records throughout her short racing career. Her talent has not gone unnoticed, and she is already under the watchful eye of the F1 Academy’s Driver Development programme, and this September, after being selected from thousands of applicants, started a two-year DiSE Motorsport Academy Programme at Brooksby College in Leicestershire. 

The F1 Academy was set up in 2023 by Susie Wolff, a former racing driver and wife of Toto Wolff (principal of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team), with the intention of supporting female drivers in their development and preparation for higher levels of competition. Previous winners Marta Garcia, Abbi Pulling and Doriane Pin have all gone on to start competitive motorsport careers. 

The DiSE Motorsport Academy Programme equips the most promising young drivers with the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to maximise performance.

Maisy is certainly giving herself the best chance to succeed – but her journey has not been an easy one. 

The former High Storrs School pupil actually came to racing quite late, first getting behind the wheel of a go-kart at Teamsport, near Meadowhall, when she was 11 years old. But even at that early stage, her dad, Adam, a former club racing driver himself, saw something in Maisy – maybe it was natural ability, maybe it was fearlessness or a bit of both.

“When you start to see improvement, that’s when it flips to a more serious thing,” Adam says of these early track sessions. “I asked for a track map and would go out first with Maisy following to watch the lines. When I tapped my helmet we’d swap over and then we’d have a debrief at the end.”

Maisy developed quickly and competed in the British Indoor Karting Championship, reaching the finals. 

The next step was a move to outdoor karting, mainly at PF International in Lincolnshire, which is considered by many to be the best kart circuit on the planet – and it has a big connection to Sheffield.

“Once we started to get into it we suddenly learned that Sheffield is weirdly the centre of UK karting,” explains Adam. “The main reason is Paul Fletcher, who owned Fletcher’s Bakery, and was big into karting. He built PF International and also started a team called Strawberry Racing with engine partners called Cream. They’re based in Orgreave.”

This level of karting is categorised by age and saw Maisy qualify for the ‘Mini’ category which, at the time, featured karts with a full-size adult chassis, before progressing to Juniors where she became the first ever female driver to win the PF International Championship in 2025. 

Prior to being crowned champion in November of that year, Maisy’s consistent performances saw her being encouraged to take part in the IAME Ladies Cup in Le Mans, France, where she pitted herself against some of the best kart drivers in the world. Despite racing in a senior kart for the first time, she was completely unphased and set the fastest lap time over the weekend.

It was during this championship year that the F1 Academy Driver Development first got in contact with Maisy and said they’d been monitoring her progress. It was a real ‘sit up and take notice’ moment.

“That was the first sign that something was starting to happen,” beams Adam. “That was always the dream. And that was based on what her race results already were, if you think what she did in 2025, that sealed it.”

Approaching her final year at secondary school, Adam and Maisy started to put a plan together of how she could make the next steps and achieve her aim of being signed by the F1 Academy and ultimately become an F1 racing driver.

The first part of this plan was for Maisy to get her racing licence, which would allow her to enter and compete in regulated circuit events. 

The second thing was installing a simulator at home, something the pair had not really considered up to that point.

“We went to a DiSE Motorsport Academy open day and met Will Tergurtha, who is one of the tutors and an ex-British GT3 champion,” comments Adam. “The first thing he said was, ‘I’m assuming Maisy’s got a sim?’

“I thought we could get all the stuff second-hand for about £2,500 but Will said we’d be looking at about £10,000.”

Thankfully, help was at hand. 

“Out of the blue we had a message on Instagram from Precision Sim Engineering who wanted to talk to us about a partnership,” recalls Adam. “They would supply the things they made and then we got another sponsor on board who offered to pay for the rest of it.”

Up to this point, Maisy’s whole racing career has been self-funded by Adam but, by his own admission, it’s expensive. 

“It’s up to £9,000 a day to test and racing in F4 is £500,000 a year,” Adam explains. “It is €100,000 (plus travel costs) to race in the F1 Academy because it’s subsidised by F1 and the teams. In the grand scheme of things, that’s less than karting. It’s such an attractive thing for someone like us.”

While the F1 Academy might be the goal, the journey there means that sponsorship is vital and Adam, who runs a car storage business in Totley, has already secured support from the likes of Britannia Car Leasing, Caddick Davies Solicitors, Castle Square, Finclusion and Jöro. But he’ll need lots more support for Maisy’s journey to continue.

Now that Maisy has secured her racing licence and got her sim installed, which she practices on 14 hours per week, the next steps are building up experience through testing and racing opportunities.

There was big hope that Maisy would make the F1 Academy’s rookie test in Navarra, Spain in September but budget restrictions became a big factor and it came just too soon for her. 

But all was not lost. 

“Katie [Denver] at the Driver Development Programme asked us to come to the F1 at Silverstone and said that they were working on getting Maisy a test with one of the Academy teams,” states Adam. “We didn’t hear anything but then the sporting director at [F1 Academy team] Rodin got in touch.

“They didn’t want to put her in for the official rookie test but rented Navarra and sent Maisy and three other girls, all of whom had raced in F4 for a year or two, over there.”

This was only the second time Maisy had driven an F4 car, which is nearly identical to the F1 Academy car, and she finished third out of the four over the weekend. Her performance certainly impressed Rodin who have promised to follow Maisy’s progress and hopeful inclusion in the official rookie test next year. 

While Maisy is getting to grips with college and living away from home – it’s two weeks on, two weeks off – the plan for the next 10-12 months is to further secure more sponsorship which will give her the best opportunity to test as much as possible and hopefully make the cut. 

The F1 Academy Driver Development Programme will continue to monitor her progress and, on the recommendation of Rodin, Adam and Maisy have discussed taking part in the F4 Spanish Winter Series, which is considerably cheaper than the British version but equally competitive. 

Maisy Creed is a name to keep an eye on. Who knows, with your help, she could be the first female to compete in a Formula 1 Grand Prix for over 30 years. She’s chasing a dream but based on what she’s achieved so far, her hard work and her potential, it’s not an impossible one.

To follow Maisy’s progress, visit her website or follow her on Instagram: @maisy_creed77