On the Phone to Alice Powell

She is one of the most successful Female racing drivers in the UK, and last year raced to 19th in the GP3 championship in her debut year. She is a Formula Renault BARC champion, who has both mastered single seater and tin top racing.

Now Sky Sports F1 have given the fans insight into her career and life as one of Britain's fastest females on the planet. On Thursday the 1st of November at 7.30pm, Alice Powell's episode of Britain's Next F1 Star aired. To watch it again on the Sky Sports F1 website under the "video's" section, or on Sky Go (must have a UK Sky Go account).


Powell is a busy lady. Between racing in GP3, driving in the MRF series in India and competing in other racing formula's she is constantly working away to raise the finances to compete in 2013. Motor sport is a very challenging and demanding sport, but few have that behind the scenes look which highlights an even more complex industry.

(c) GP3 Media

Britain's Next F1 Star is a 6 episode series following some of the UK's brightest young racing talent. Camera crews follow them through a number of different events. In Alice's episode, she took us behind the scenes of her Formula Renault challenge. "Sometimes she’s good, sometimes she’s bad, but she’s getting ready to go out and kick some butt later." Those good and bad moments are things that the 19 year old has experienced in her motor sport career, particularly in the 2012 GP3 series where she made her debut. As a rookie, Alice performed well but her end of season result was affected by a sprinkling of bad luck and car difficulties.

The episode followed Alice through the tough first year in GP3, but it also had a focus away from racing. The bubbly character still leads a relatively normal teenage life, where she is a very keen hockey player. Determination and drive are traits that Alice has in spades. She is determined to make it to Formula 1 and prove that women can compete at the top. "What Ellen Mcarthur has done for sailing, I’d like to do that you know for motorsport". Ahead of the episode, I got the chance to chat to Alice about filming the show, how she got in to racing and her plans for the future. 

Alice Powell: Hi Jack, you alright?

Jack Leslie: Hi Alice, I'm OK thank you, how are you?

AP: Yeah, not too bad thanks.

JL:  Let’s start with Britain’s Next F1 Star, starring yourself. What can fans expect from the show, will it focus more on your life away from the race track, racing itself or a bit of both?

AP: Yeah there will be a bit of both. There will be a feature about the hockey. Also I use hockey as part of my fitness training and then there will be stuff about Formula Renault, we did a lot of filming when I was in Formula Renault. Also you will go to the Status Factory and have an interview with my team manager from Status and a few nice shots of the GP3 car. Basically its me just talking about GP3, my experiences and plans for the future really so I'm really looking forward to it going out.

JL: Did you enjoy filming the show?

AP: Yeah I loved it. The people that were filming, Rob, Jason and everyone was really good to film with them all and big thanks to Scalextric, USP and obviously Sky for all the work and effort they have put in to get the show together.

JL: I have watched some of the other episodes of the show on Sky Sports F1, they really give great insight into the feeder series ranks. Do you think it is important to make the behind the scenes of motor sport accessible to the fans?

(c) GP3 Media

AP: Yeah because when you watch it, obviously the Sky coverage is really good and it takes you backstage and insight in to some of the F1 teams but you never get the insight into an up coming driver, so its really good I think for people to see behind the scenes of a driver coming up, go to their house, see what you do away from the sport and show that it isn't all glitz and glam, you do have downtime as well and also to show how much work that people and the teams put in as well.

JL: What are the main aims you have for the episode; too inspire young girls to get in to racing perhaps?

AP: Yeah I mean, there's obviously me on there and Tiffany Chittenden, she features in it as well and it is good to have another female on there obviously to show that I'm not the only female and that it is possible for females to be racing in this kind of industry. So hopefully there will be some young female girls watching and thinking "Actually yeah I'm gonna have a go and take this sport up.

JL: Let’s rewind back to when you first started racing, who inspired you to take up the sport in the first place?

AP: I think it was Schumacher at the time, it was obviously a very long time ago I was about 4 years old, from what I can remember. So I started karting when I was 8 and a half years old and it was more of a hobby up until when I was about 14 or 15 where I really decided "Yes I want to make this a career"and I'm here today still trying to do that.

JL: We see large kart championship fields, but many never make it past the karting stages. How important is finance and sponsorship for young racers?

AP: Finance is key. You need the finance to race to start off with but you need the finance to go with the best team, go with the best equipment, fitness training. You need to have the right level of backing to get anywhere in this sport really.

JL: Have you had any experience with these problems, finding sponsorship and raising the funds to race?

AP: Yeah all the time,  I mean I'm not born into a rich family so I have to go out and look for the sponsorship. I'm obviously looking for sponsorship to do GP3 next year and that's obviously proving to be quite tough but we have got a lot of people interested. It's getting sponsors to agree the deal and this year I have had great media coverage from doing GP3, the great coverage you receive off Sky Sports and other blogs as well. My media coverage value is over £1 million, I got it valued the other week. That's fantastic for someone my age to have that kind of media value already. That is the value sponsors get for having logo's on my car, helmet or race suit and livery. So its very important and there is a lot I can give back to the sponsors.

JL: Now your first step away from karting was through the Ginetta Junior championship, what are your thoughts and highlights on your time in the series?

AP:  Ginetta Junior, well, I remember I was very nervous every time I was racing because it was car racing, it was totally new to me. But the Ginetta Junior championship series is absolutely fantastic, it helped me so much to learn the British circuits, learn more race craft, learn more engineering because your obviously driving a car and not a go kart. So there was a lot I learnt from racing in Ginetta Juniors. Its a fantastic series and I would recommend to anyone that level age to do the series. 

JL: Now you raced in both the Formula Renault BARC and Formula Renault UK series, how important were the series to you in helping you develop as a driver?

AP: Yes hugely because that's the first step I took to driving a slicks and wing car. A huge learning curve from driving in Ginetta Juniors but obviously the Formula Renault BARC championship I managed to win in 2010 so that was a fantastic year for me and for the rest of the team and my sponsors. Yeah there is so much that I learnt about myself and about racing and I'm still learning now, I mean even this year in GP3 I have learnt more about myself and the car, engineering and even the sport. I have met some great people along the way.

JL: Moving on to this year where you made your debut in the GP3 series, overall were you satisfied with your first season?

AP: Yeah it started off very well, finishing 11th in Barcelona and 11th in Monaco. We were 9th quickest in practice in Valencia and qualified 12th, so we were so close to points. But then we had a bit of a downhill struggle with the car. I struggled with some of the circuits and we had a lot of bad luck with some crashes we got involved in, so it was tough but hats off to Status Grand Prix who have done an awesome job all season. They have helped me huge amounts with learning, getting up to speed. They did 2 test days in the car before the start of the season, compared to most of the other drivers who were doing all the testing so it was a steep learning curve but if it wasn't for my engineer and all the guys at Status giving me as much information as possible, I don't think I would have been able to get the results and obviously the final race of the season getting a point.

JL: What do you make of the new 2013 spec GP3 car, what are the main differences in comparison to your 2012 machinery?

AP: Well according to Mitch Evans, he is the only one from GP3 who has actually driven the car, he has said it is a very good car, it has big improvements, its a lot faster and has a bit more grip as well. There is some 400 bhp and a bit of different bodywork. It sounds nice as well, it sounds like a GP2 and looks like a GP2 as well so I think I'm really hoping I can raise the funds to race in that series next year and get the opportunity to drive the car.

JL: You were racing in the MRF racing series. Could you explain a bit about the series, as it is relatively new?

AP: Yeah, basically it is a Dallara chassis, MRF tyres which is a big tyre manufacturer in India. It is a series that is going to be raced across our British winter. We have obviously had the first race at Delhi, and its a bit like the Formula 2 championship where its not the teams that run it, the series run the cars. It is a bit like how Formula Palmer Audi was as well. I'm lucky to be sponsored by Renault in the series, Renault of India. They have sponsored me to do that series so I'm really looking forward to the next race which will be in Delhi again which will be at the end of November, start of December.

JL: Now looking forward, what are your plans for next year? I read that you were focusing your attentions on raising a budget for next year. Would that be another year in GP3?

AP: Yeah focuses are now gonna be raising the budget to race GP3 next year. Obviously its got the new car coming out and possibly a different kind of calendar to what we have seen this year. It will still be on the F1 calendar which is really really good and really important for the sponsors. We will still have great coverage on the TV around the world and on Sky Sports F1 as well, my aim across this winter is to get the sponsorship together to race in that series and to continue the journey of getting towards Formula 1.

(c) GP3 Media

JL: So what are your main aims for the next 5 years are you looking to make the jump to GP2 in the not too distant future?

AP: Yeah obviously I have a route planned out but no money for the route if that makes sense. Obviously GP2, GP3 next year and GP2 a couple of years after or World Series by Renault, one of the two. Then obviously I will  try and hit the big time in Formula 1.

JL: And a final question on some of the latest goings on in Formula 1. As a fellow driver, what do you make of some of the big driver moves, for example Hamilton to Mercedes or Hulkenberg to Sauber? 

AP: Yeah, a lot of people think it is the wrong move (Hamilton to Mercedes) but to be honest change is not always a bad thing. McLaren have helped him so much since he was a 12 year old boy, and I think it will be very interesting to see he gets on at Mercedes.

  

Thanks to the lovely Alice Powell for answering my questions and allowing us to have some brilliant insight into her career and life as a racing driver. Also a huge thanks to Sky Sports F1 for setting up the chat.