By Kim Wilson
Rising Australian motor sport talent Aiva Anagnostiadis has been unveiled as one of just 18 drivers in the exclusive F1 Academy, the first time an Australian driver has taken part in the high-powered series.
The 17-year-old from Melbourne, who still has to display L-plates away from the track, will join the Hitech Grand Prix team in the all-female series, which comprises seven rounds, each taking place during a Formula 1 race weekend. The first race is scheduled for Shanghai (March 21-23).
Aiva Anagnostiadis is the first Australian to join the F1 academy.Credit: Instagram
The F1 Academy was founded by Formula 1 in 2023 to help young female drivers progress to high levels, aiding the transition from karting to single-seater competitions.
Susie Wolff – a former professional racing driver and the wife of Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff – is the managing director of the series, which has attracted high-profile sponsors, including all 10 F1 teams, PUMA, Tommy Hilfiger, and Anagnostiadis’ sponsor for 2025, TAG Heuer, which is also the official timekeeper.
Anagnostiadis began karting at six, and her career highlights include success in the F4 Indian Championship and multiple podium finishes in Australian karting championships. In 2022 she joined Alpine’s Rac(H)er Academy junior karting program, which helped pave her way into the F1 Academy.
“F1 Academy was a goal straight away. To reach that goal has been a dream come true, and now the plan is to work as hard I can and be as competitive as possible,” she says.
Anagnostiadis in her karting days.
Her unwavering spirit and resilience have propelled her ascent through the ranks.
“I don’t give up. Say you have bad weekend; I get back up on Monday morning and you’re pushing for that next week. And I think that’s a really hard thing to do, mentally, physically, everything,” she says.
Anagnostiadis has also been announced as an ambassador for this month’s Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix at Albert Park, and will officially kick off her ambassadorship when she steps out on March 12 for the season’s official launch party – Glamour on the Grid.
The former Kilvington Grammar student is excited to catch up with young Australian F1 drivers Oscar Piastri and Jack Doohan while she’s at home.
“I’m really excited. I’ve known Jack and Oscar because we’ve grown up racing the same championships,” she says.
It’s been 50 years since a woman has raced in F1, but Anagnostiadis is part of a growing group of fierce young women who have a genuine chance of breaking into the male-dominated sport.
There are no rules preventing women from competing in F1, but the grid has been exclusively male since 1976.
“I think it’s possible with our generation that’s coming through to definitely see a female in the next five or six years in Formula 1,” she says.
She acknowledges that physical differences between men and women pose extra challenges for female racers, but says they are not insurmountable.
“The physical aspect, I think there is that little bit of difference. I think females have to work a little bit harder, but at the end of the day, you work that bit harder and make it equal,” she says.
“I think we’re a bit smarter in some decisions. But apart from that, it’s a car and a person. Once you get that helmet on, it’s just everyone against everyone.”
She credits the can-do Australian attitude with the success of local talent, which now spans all categories.
“I think for such a small country and the motorsport population that we have, we’re doing really well competing. I think the Australian breed, and the kind of mindset created when you’ve grown up there, and you come over here, we’re a lot more rough and tough than I think the Europeans, and it pays off.
“I want to be a role model for those little girls coming through and be what I didn’t have. We’re trying to break barriers and show girls that there is another pathway and opportunities out there.”
While Anagnostiadis can race around the track at 240km/h, she still needs to drive the required number of kilometres to earn her Australian driver’s licence.
“Everyone will see me pulling up to the grand prix with my L-plates. It’s annoying, but it is what it is,” she says.
Anagnostiadis will be an ambassador for the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix.Credit: Getty Images for AGPC
Motorsport runs in Anagnostiadis’ blood. Her mother, Barbara, raced karts, her father, Adam, was a track mechanic, and her 14-year-old brother, James, is part of the Mercedes Junior Program. The family moved to London in 2023 and will soon head to Italy to pursue their F1 dreams.
“She’s been working at this since she was seven or eight years old, and there’s been a lot of work that’s gone in behind the scenes from everybody, and not just her, from her whole team around her,” Barbara says.
“You watch the evolution with women’s soccer, and you’re watching that same sort of evolution in this sport. I can’t even imagine where it will lead to; it’s very, very cool.”
“Definitely, with the resources and everything that’s behind them, the system, the training that they’re getting, the mental, physical – everything’s being put in place for them to succeed.”
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