Feature
Her competitive mum and formidable World Champions: Aiva Anagnostiadis’ Racing Idols
Aiva Anagnostiadis is learning as she goes in her rookie F1 ACADEMY campaign, but she’s got a strong support network around to remind her to enjoy every opportunity that comes her way.
Before she celebrates her 18th birthday next week, the TAG Heuer driver picks out which motorsport figures stand out to her, from those closest to home to those whose footsteps she dreams of following in.
HER MUM
“She got me into the sport, she raced. When I was younger, I didn’t really have another female role model growing up. I always looked to her for answers and she was always there to give them. She’s just been supporting me the whole way through.
“She has a bit of knowledge as well behind her, so to have her there and know she’s going to support me 100%, it’s good. My mum did kart racing when she was 12 onwards and was really good. I think she was second in a couple of championships and back then, there were pretty much no girls on the grid, so it was quite tough. She had a good record.
“She did get the opportunity to go and do a car test because the driver wasn’t able to do the race, but unfortunately they just didn’t have the budget to keep going. She was fast, so that’s all that really matters! She got out of the sport, had kids, had a family and then got back into it. Now me and my brother are into it, so it kind of turned into a whole family affair.
“(I’ve learnt to) Take every opportunity and enjoy it because obviously she didn’t have any of the opportunities that I have now. I think she’s kind of trying to live through me a little bit as well and just be with me on the journey. She goes ‘you just have to enjoy it all and take it all in because you only get these opportunities in motorsport once, so you’ve got to take them and run with them’.
“I did do a test day with her when I was younger, but to my advantage, I had been in the go-kart forever and she had been out for a couple of years, so I had a bit of an advantage. I think if it was an even playing field, I’d like to say that I would win but I don’t know! She’d say her.”
MAX VERSTAPPEN
“I like his ego but his character. I like how when he needs to get a job done, he can just get it done. He’s fast, so I think that’s why I look up to him. When they tell him over the radio that they need two or three-tenths and he does a lap and it’s six-tenths better. He can just find it when no one else can, so I really admire that.
“A lot of the girls I think look up to the F1 drivers because now with F1 ACADEMY and the media and everything, it’s the same kind of concept. To look up to them, see how they handle everything, take everything on and see behind the scenes of how everything is done so then, we can follow in their footsteps in a way. Just to see how they can block it off and drive, it’s cool.”
AYRTON SENNA & JAMIE CHADWICK
“I’d like to say Jamie Chadwick but I like Ayrton Senna as well. My mum has always looked up to Senna, so I think he’s always been a figure that I’ve known growing up in motorsport and he’s only of the best of all time so you can’t really not look up to him.
“The first race I watched of his was the Monaco rain race — I think everyone knows that race (the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix). I was never any good in the wet. Then my brother was like ‘you need to watch Ayrton Senna in the rain’ and I was like ‘okay’, just to see how he handled that car compared to everyone else. I was amazed, just at how good he was. After seeing that I was like okay, I rate him! He’s pretty good.
“He just sends it. You can’t really care about the outcome, you just have to put everything on the line. I think the cars back then were a bit harder to drive than they are now, so to see how hard they were working and how much speed they were carrying. We’ve got better equipment these days so you can do it better.
“Then Jamie Chadwick has obviously done probably more than any female has done in motorsport so far. I really look up to her and all the accomplishments that she’s done and I kind of want to follow in her footsteps in a way.
“She’s made the move to the US so it’s opened that kind of pathway and shown that that is an option if you can be as good as she was. It shows you a pathway that maybe I could follow in those footsteps and get somewhere through that route. Abbi Pulling has now gone to GB3 so you can win the series and that’s your next pathway.”