Ella Lloyd: The Pontypridd racing driver dreaming of Formula one

Lloyd is one of only two female drivers having to juggle the F1 Academy with the mixed-field F4 British Championship this season.

Sharing the track with male drivers at this level isn’t something that worries Lloyd at all, despite the “mixed views” that some of her peers have.

“I think you’ve just got to put your stamp down and get your elbows out a little bit and be like, yeah, I’m here to do the same thing as you are, and I’m not going to get pushed about.

“I’m just as tough as you are, so you’ve kind of got to put them back in their place and put them in their box, and they’re all right then.

“At the end of the day we’re all in equal machinery, we’re all in cars that do the same thing. So it doesn’t really make a difference to me whether I’m racing against females or a mixed grid.”

Lloyd hopes that she and the other racers in the F1 Academy can pave the way for a new generation of girls to see motorsports as a career – and not just on the track.

“There’s a lot more females participating in the karting races and coming up through the ranks, which is nice to see.

“Since I’ve started myself, there’s been quite a lot of females coming into the sport, which is nice, and not just drivers. Mechanics and engineers, so it’s great to see.”