Meet the women helping to drive change in F1

When mechanic Cleo Collins was fitting a driver's seat recently, she noticed something different.

She was surrounded by women.

"We've never heard of it before," the Williams test team mechanic told BBC Sport. "Four women doing that kind of thing."

It is one of the signs that Formula 1 - traditionally a male-dominated environment on and off the track - is changing.

The number of women studying motorsport engineering has more than doubled in the past five years, according to figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), and F1 teams such as McLaren and Mercedes have reported a rise in the number of female employees in technical roles over a similar period of time.

BBC Sport met three of the women who are forging careers in the sport and breaking barriers.

Cleo Collins has always had a ion for motorsport. After spending seven and a half years working at her dad's estate agents, she made her hobby her job.

"My downtime hobby was to work on track cars," she said. "I had my own track car and on my days off I'd do bits, modify it, take it on track days. Through that I met people who worked in motorsport."

Collins took the leap into the industry about five years ago. After volunteering with race teams, learning and gaining experience, she secured a job.

Having worked her way up to F1, she is now a number one mechanic for Williams' test team. There she works with young academy drivers who want to move into F1.

The 31-year-old Briton has worked with various teams, including stints in the now-defunct all-female W-series, and for Alpine F1.

"Growing up to do my job as a mechanic... as a female I never would have thought I'd be doing that when I was 16," she said.

In her time in the industry, Collins has seen growth in the number of women - and re being the only woman working in a championship in the UK.

Statistics around the number of female mechanics in the sport are not widely published, but teams such as McLaren and Mercedes have reported an increase in the number of women in technical roles.

According to Mercedes' 2024 gender pay gap report, 10% of the team's technical employees were female, compared to 6% in 2021.

That rise is similar at McLaren Racing, which reported an uplift from 5% to 10% over the same period.

Collins is optimistic about the future for women in the sport.

"I think it's definitely more inclusive and there's a really big push for it and movement for it," she said.

"I think as much exposure as possible and it'll go in the right direction."

Engineer Andra Patricia recalls encountering sexism long before she even entered the motorsport industry.

She re being told by an ex-boyfriend that she was "not engineer material".

But she did not let that stop her from achieving her dreams.

Now a thermal aerodynamics engineer at the Cadillac F1 team, Patricia previously worked for Red Bull as a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis engineer.

"I knew I wanted to be an engineer," the 31-year-old Romanian said. "I knew I wanted to work in F1. I thought to myself, 'if I can make it there, I'm going to learn from some of the best people in the industry'."

Motorsport organisations have been trying to encourage more women to follow technical careers. Governing body the FIA introduced a Girls on Track initiative to encourage schoolgirls' interest in Stem subjects (science, technology, engineering, and maths) and industries, and CareerShift - aimed at those between 16 and 24.

And there has been a rise in the number of women studying motorsport engineering, with HESA data showing they made up 9% of students on the course at UK higher education providers in 2023-24, compared to 5% in 2019-20.

The numbers show not only a rise in percentage but also a growth in real , with 165 female students in 2023-24 compared to 60 in 2019-20.

"Having representation in a STEM [career] especially F1, is so inspiring and it's going to open so many doors and the eyes of so many young women," said Patricia. "I think it's going to do so much good."

Patricia said she was frequently approached by girls and women for advice. Her message is clear.

"Don't listen to anybody saying you can't do it, any statistics that may seem discouraging," she said.

"If you start off your journey thinking you're at a perceived disadvantage than other people, you risk becoming your own enemy.

"Sometimes women are held to higher standards than men, but it's going to be your superpower."

Other programmes aimed at encouraging women into motorsport include More Than Equal - which aims to find and develop the first female world champion - and Formula 1 Academy, which is a female-only championship.

It is nearly 50 years since a female driver started an F1 race - Lella Lombardi in 1976 – but women have been making other history in other areas.

Claire Dubbelman is one of those trailblazers as the first female deputy race director in F1, and the only woman to hold the FIA race director super licence.

For the Dutchwoman, working at the pinnacle of motorsport was always her intended destination.

Growing up around the sport - following it with her dad, who was a journalist - Dubbelman started her career at a grassroots championship where she described her role as "anything without a screwdriver", including doing hotel bookings for the crew, arranging the trophies for podium ceremonies and writing press releases.

She re having conversations with drivers about their goals and aspirations. They would often talk about their dreams of making it to Formula 1.

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