Alpine Formula One Team celebrated International Women's Day with a focus on reciprocity and support

Racing ahead to drive gender equality on and off the track, Alpine Formula One brought together its talented team to celebrate International Women's Day (IWD). 

"Through Give To Gain, we’re making a conscious call to support all the women in our team and motorsport community," said Alpine Formula One. "We’re celebrating the power of reciprocity and support that drives us forward together."

Nurturing female F1 talent

Beyond their support of International Women's Day, Alpine Formula One boasts a positive track record when it comes to supporting gender equality. For example, a few years ago the team created the Rac(H)er programme to increase diversity, with an aim of not only discovering and nurturing future female F1 talent, but to significantly increase the ratio of female employees.

Helping make a future female F1 driver a reality

The F1 team partners with numerous training organisations and providing financial backing to field a female driver in F1, using research from the Paris Brain Institute (the ICM, or Institut du Cerveau) to “properly appreciate” the steps to becoming a Formula One driver.

Young female karters with aspirations in F1 are supported by Rac(H)er with bespoke mental and physical training, with “substantial resources” allocated for making sure females have the same chance as males on the road to F1. Alpine’s roadmap sees promising female talent guided from karting to F4, regional championships, F3, F2 and then to F1.

Investing in STEM initiatives

Furthermore, the programme sees Alpine invest in local STEM initiatives, including at a grassroots level with educational institutions, to encourage more women to enter the field and pursue it long-term, pairing that with mentoring within every department of Alpine to support women.

Senior personnel also undergo wide-ranging training to support Rac(H)er and female employees at Alpine.

Collaborating with further programmes

Alpine works with F1 and the FIA Women in Motorsport Committee to achieve their aims, as well as collaborating with further programmes of impact, such as Girls on Track.

Alpine Vice President of Human Resources Claire Mesnier has said that: “With Rac(H)er, we want to create a true meritocracy and not just move statistics. We have designed a unique, long-term programme that relies on the commitment of all Alpine employees. The challenge is to encourage reflection within the teams, but also to put in place concrete means to move things forward within the company. We commit to doing this in all areas of the company and are leading by example. Fifty per cent of the Alpine Management Committee are now female – not because this is a quota but because they are the best in their field of expertise to lead the role and its responsibilities."

Mentoring female racing talent

Alpine Formula One also has a strong vommunity of impressive women leaders who mentor female talent, such as W Series racer Alice Powell [pictured above] who is a Talent Identification and Development Mentor for the Alpine Academy and Affiliate Programme.

Alice was a mentor to Alpine Academy Affiliate Abbi Pulling, who made history by driving a Formula One car in Saudi Arabia. She has also mentored further female drivers who signed up to the Alpine Academy, guiding them on fitness, career paths, and opportunities.

"More and more opportunities for women within motorsport are emerging now, but budding drivers often lack guidance and experience in the early days of their career. The Alpine Academy is an extremely useful stepping stone for all drivers," said Alice. "It provides a sense of credibility and has a defined place on the motorsport ladder. Mentoring is very important. We need to change the mindset of young women that these opportunities do exist, but to also give them the resilience to reach out and grab these opportunities with both hands."

"It’s a really supportive environment which is also really useful for me to hopefully show other young women that the opportunities in motorsport are there, you just need the drive and motivation to seize them," has said Abbi.