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‘Sometimes you have to see things to believe it is possible‘ - McLaren’s Stephanie Carlin on moulding the next generation of papaya talent
Developing young racers to become top class drivers deserving of a place in highest levels of motorsport isn’t an overnight job, but it’s one that’s well worth the effort for McLaren’s F1 Business Operations Director Stephanie Carlin.
Chatting as part of our Pathways Into Motorsport series, Carlin shares how she’s helping to build the next crop of junior up-and-comers and why F1 ACADEMY plays such an important role in accelerating progress for future female talent.
Starting out as an Assistant Press Officer for the Society of Motor Manufacturers, it wouldn’t be long before Carlin found herself immersed within motorsports. After being involved in the A1GP Championship as a PR and Communications Officer, she transitioned to work for Carlin, one of the biggest and most successful names in junior single-seaters.
Steadily evolving her role over time from PR and Marketing Manager to Commercial Manager, Carlin eventually took up the reigns as Carlin’s Team Principal in F1 ACADEMY and for Team X44 in Extreme E.
“I really never imagined that I'd have the opportunity to work in the sport,” she begins. “I think to look up into the grandstands at races that I've been to as a fan, now working in it is a really cool feeling.
“I started in PR, marketing and communications, which was a really good place to start a career. Working in that kind of comms role you are aware of all areas of a race team, so that was very useful. Then as I progressed in my career, that became slightly more of a commercial focus.
“From there, I then moved into working more closely with the race engineers and team management and then the role of Team Principal in an F1 ACADEMY team, so it just evolved over time.”
She adds: “I studied politics at university because I never thought that getting into the automotive or motorsport industry was a realistic ambition. I just thought it was so niche I would struggle to do that. Actually, my politics degree was an awful lot about communications. There was an awful lot of writing, there was debating, so it helped my communication skills, which definitely helped from a media and PR point of view.
“That enabled me to get a job at the automotive industry in the UK, the Society of Motor Manufacturers. My degree definitely helped and from there, being in the automotive industry, it was a slightly smaller step into motorsport. There's many, many paths into the industry and that's one thing I would always say, don't think that you can't make your way into it. It probably helped navigate my path slightly.”
Taking on a new challenge as the F1 Business Operations Director at McLaren, Carlin’s current role sees her head up their Driver Development Programme. Featuring seven drivers across five series, the programme includes F1 ACADEMY’s Ella Lloyd alongside IndyCar’s Pato O’Ward and Formula 2 race winner Alex Dunne.
Development programmes play an instrumental part in shaping young drivers, equipping them with the physical, mental and driving support needed to enable them to thrive on track. Bringing with her a unique insider perspective on the support networks and barriers potential talent can face, Carlin works closely with the McLaren-affiliated drivers and their teams to identify where they might need assistance in fine-tuning their craft to reach in order to reach their full potential.
“My role is quite broad,” says Carlin. “I work both in the F1 team, but I also currently oversee our Driver Development Programme, which includes F1 ACADEMY. Looking after the progression of our junior drivers, working with their teams, working on their development programmes and helping identify and develop that talent is a big part of what I do. I think helping to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each driver and the personal traits that they take to the track with them is something that I really enjoy and take a lot of pleasure from.
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“What I'm able to do with my background in junior motorsport is to help identify where our F1 ACADEMY driver is going to need the most help. We must remember that a lot of these F1 ACADEMY drivers are still at very formative parts of their career, despite the high level of exposure that F1 ACADEMY brings.
“It’s bridging that gap, making sure that we've got the right development programme in place for them, while also making sure that we're activating all the commercial opportunities that F1 ACADEMY presents that’s really going to help these drivers take a step up in their career.”
She continues: “Motorsport, as many sports (are), is quite high pressure and there's always so many things outside of your control. In terms of achieving a good result, you can do absolutely everything perfectly and still not get the result that you either think you deserve or you think was going to happen. We see that happen quite often, so knowing that you've given your best and it hasn't always delivered, it's quite challenging.”
Witnessing the growth of women in motorsport in recent years, both in terms of fanbase and trackside presence, Carlin is confident that the impetus behind F1 ACADEMY will continue to spur on more young girls and women to explore their own avenues into the industry.
“What F1 ACADEMY has done has accelerated the rate of female participation in all levels of motorsport,” Carlin states. “It has created a shop window for that talent I think, but it's also creating a huge amount of role models to the younger generation that can see what's possible.
"What we're going to see with that is a trajectory that isn't steady, it will gain momentum quite quickly I think because the level of young drivers that reach out to us now is far, far higher than it's ever been that are female.
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“Also the amount of female engineers and the amount of females in management roles in motorsport, which is also an area that's still lacking. Those are all increasing because sometimes you have to see things to believe it is possible and I think that's what F1 ACADEMY absolutely does.”
She concludes: “If you have a goal, you have an aim, stay really focused on it. Manifest it, think about it because even when you are not consciously thinking about it, you're subconsciously doing things that are going to lead you down that path. Get as much work experience as you can, volunteer as much as you can, be as knowledgeable as you can.
“Be as humble as you can, learn from as many people as possible and just stay focused on the goal because if you are determined, if you work hard, if you prove that you can do your very best at every level, there's absolutely no reason why any woman shouldn't be in any position within the industry.”