- Aiva Anagnostiadis is on her way to making her F1 dream come true
- The 16-year-old from Melbourne will join Alpine’s F1 Academy
- Aussie McLaren CEO Oscar Piastri is an inspiration to the young star
Melbourne teenager Aiva Anagnostiadis wants to become the first female Formula 1 driver of the modern era – and she’s just taken a big step towards achieving her dreams.
Anagnostiadis, 16, will follow in the footsteps of Australians Oscar Piastri and Jack Doohan and join the Alpine F1 Academy at the end of her school year.
The talented youngster will move to Europe with her family and take up karting next season before moving into cars in 2025.
“It’s clear that the main target now is Formula 1,” she told the BBC Herald Sun.
“Racing professionally and getting paid for it as a job.”
Aiva Anagnostiadis, 16, wants to become the first female F1 driver of the modern era – and she’s on track to make her dreams come true
Anagnostiadis is set to join the Alpine F1 Academy in 2024, where she will follow in the footsteps of Australian McLaren CEO Oscar Piastri
Her family has sold their house to make a big career move and Anagnostiadis is hopeful she can make motorsport history.
“It would be a dream come true in every way,” she said.
‘Hopefully we can make it happen. It will take a while, but every little thing we do now will help us reach that goal,” she said.
To start with, the family moves to Oxford and Aiva partners with Dan Holland Racing.
The karting team is highly successful with championship wins in the Rotax British and European Championships, plus the X30 Junior series.
Piastri, who has had a brilliant rookie season at McLaren so far, has been a great role model for Anagnostiadis.
“Being Australian and part of Alpine, it’s a big inspiration,” she said.
The young star’s mother, Barbara, is overjoyed that Alpine is showing interest.
The Melbourne teenager hopes to make her dreams come true in Europe – and she’s using Piastri’s stunning rise through the F1 ranks as inspiration
“As a woman in this sport, I think it’s going to make all the difference to have that kind of support and belief behind her,” she said.
‘It would be pretty cool for the sport if a woman came from F1. It would be great.’