B.C. rising star Nicole Havrda to race in all-female F1 Academy

Canadian driver Nicole Havrda poses in this undated handout photo. Havrda will race for Rodin Motorsport in the F1 Academy series this season. Launched by Formula One in 2023, F1 Academy was created to help young women develop and rise to higher levels of motorsport. It is considered the top female-only championship. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO — Parc Fermé Co

Nicole Havrda has never seen a woman start a race in Formula One. No one has in nearly 50 years.

The rising Canadian racing star sees no reason why she can’t be the one to end that streak.

“When you put your helmet on, no one really knows your gender,” Havrda said. “You're another racer on the track.”

Havrda, a 19-year-old from the small Vancouver Island town of Comox, B.C., is already making a habit of overtaking male drivers on the racetrack.

She captured a Formula Four title in 2023, becoming the first woman to win the Formula Pro USA Western Championship. Last year, she finished sixth in the Formula Regional Americas Championship, an F3 series across North America.

Now she believes a chance to race against other women provides the best path toward achieving her F1 dream.

On Monday, Havrda joined Hitech Grand Prix— with sponsorship from American Express — in the all-female F1 Academy for the upcoming season.

Launched by Formula One in 2023 to help young female drivers develop, F1 Academy is considered the top women’s circuit after the W Series disbanded in 2022.

Drivers must be aged 16 to 25 and can only compete for two seasons in the single-seater Formula 4 championship. Past winners have graduated to higher levels of motorsport.

Although the cars are slower than in F3, Havrda says the exposure of F1 Academy is on another level.

"What I really noticed racing in Formula Three in America was not too many people notice you, and the marketing is so hard,” said Havrda, who will simultaneously race in F3 this season. “F1 Academy is with F1, so lots of brands want to be seen by Formula One … the marketing is so huge.”

This season features 14 races in seven cities, beginning with Shanghai from March 21 to 23.

Havrda will race on home soil when Montreal hosts the fourth stop at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve from June 13 to 15 — the same time as F1’s Canadian Grand Prix.

“If I wasn’t here where I am right now, in a way my career wouldn't be continuing,” she said. “It's just so hard with (trying to find) sponsors.”

Unlike most of her peers in a sport fuelled by big bucks, Havrda comes from relatively humble beginnings.

While the last two Canadians to race in F1 — Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi — hail from billionaire families, Havrda’s parents run Valley Kitchens Ltd., a family-owned cabinetry shop.

It’s a prosperous business, but their wealth doesn’t compare to those who fly around the globe on private jets.

“We always make fun of it,” she said. “We're like, I don't know how to say it in a nice way, but the poorest people at the track. Because if you see the budgets people are spending, it is crazy.”

Havrda’s father, Martin, who is originally from Czechia, said his daughter has always been driven. At 18 months old she was already alpine skiing. Then swimming became her passion, with Havrda dead set on becoming an Olympian.

A visit to the Austrian Grand Prix during a family Europe trip in 2018 changed everything, as Havrda reluctantly joined her dad on an eye-opening visit to the Red Bull Ring.

“We're walking up to the grandstands, Nicole heard the first or second car passing by, and then she said, 'Daddy, can you get me there?'” Martin said. “I said, 'You mean you want to see better, you want to be closer?’ She said, ‘No, this is what I want to do.’”

Havrda, then 10, was serious. She signed herself up for driving courses at Saratoga Speedway on Vancouver Island, and her passion took off.

Martin, Havrda and her mother drove — and ferried — their motorhome five hours almost every Thursday to Chilliwack, B.C., for weekend karting practice.

By 15, as Havrda started gaining attention, the family bought an F3 race car and kept it in California.

“My wife and I, with Nicole and our little dog, we would drive every two weeks to California for two days, three days of testing or practising,” Martin said. “Comox to California, almost always in 24 hours. Just non-stop. My wife and I would switch.”

More than just his daughter’s chauffeur, Martin has also been her mechanic all along.

"We've been doing this kind of the most affordable way possible,” he said.

Motorsports have long been dominated by male drivers.

Maria Teresa de Filippis and Lella Lombardi are the only two women to have started in an F1 race. De Filippis raced in three from 1958 to 1959, while Lombardi totalled 17 starts between 1974 and 1976.

Havrda dreams of being next. But for now, she’s focused on making an impact at F1 Academy and inspiring more girls to get behind the wheel.

"That's always the goal. It's always to win,” she said. “And to also show other young girls that it is possible, because there are definitely more girls coming into the sport, which is really, really cool to see.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 24, 2025.

Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press