Edinburgh motor racing prodigy, Rachel Robertson, 18, will begin her first full season in a Formula One Academy car in Shanghai in mid-March.
It is the opening event of a seven race schedule also featuring Jeddah, Montreal. Silverstone, Zandvoort, Austin and Las Vegas.
Promotion for Rachel, who has four months left of motor sport engineering course at Wiltshire College where she has access to better practice facilities, follows a highly successful eleventh hour debut in Las Vegas at the end of the 2025 season.
This year in the all girls Academy she will be racing for Hi-tech in a car bearing the Puma livery.
Dad Colin, from Trinity says: “To get this far was always a bit of a moonshot and it Is amazing for Rachel to now have a global platform.
“If all goes well she will have two seasons to try to progress to F3 and take it from there but for the moment one of the biggest challenges is trying to acquire sponsorships that will allow for extra practice time on the track.
“Progress is happening in that regard and Rachel has had fantastic support from (television presenter) Gabby Logan as part of a sponsorship fund she has been responsible for allocating.
“Racing at Las Vegas last year was incredible as Rachel found herself mixing with some of the sport’s elite. And, of course, (chef) Gordon Ramsay happened to be in attendance and made a point of seeking out the only fellow Scot racing with words of encouragement.”
Before the Shanghai race Rachel will head abroad for testing and ultimately she hopes to follow Oban’s Suzie Wolff who, also from a start in karting, went all the way to a place as a development driver for the Williams F1 team.
Except …. Rachel would like to go one better and appear in a race itself!
