Conducted and Written by Max Smolarski, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
Racing open formula cars feels like the best experience to drivers trying it for the first time. However, staying in this category is usually the most expensive. Potentially tens of thousands of karting drivers strive for the same dream, but most don’t even last several years in karting due to financial roadblocks, not to mention the cost of promoting to any type of car racing.
Winfield Racing School and their Formula 4 Training Camp is now usually one of the first places where future stars have their first taste. “I was having a blast,” 19-year-old Laura Camps says.
Karting from the age of 10 with help from her racing fanatic father, she progressed through the ranks to win a KZ category race in 2020, just a few months into her time in the category.
It was Camps’ first time in a Formula 4 car back in October 2021 with the FIA Girls on Track experience, and it was, as expected, quite tough. “Physically it was hard [as] it was the first time I stepped into single seaters. I don’t lie when I say I couldn’t press the brakes hard enough, […] and also [the force on] the neck and the arms – it’s quite different from karting.”
Despite all this, Laura quickly went from strength to strength. The young Spaniard was praised for her “speed at which she learned, and her ability to put these lessons into practice” by former head of the Ferrari Driver Academy, Marco Matassa.
The incredible experiences at Ferrari
At the end of October, Camps was selected as one of the four finalists, alongside Clarissa Dervic, current Eurocup-3 driver Victoria Blokhina, and Girls On Track finalist from 2020 Julia Ayoub.
Further tests were then conducted in Maranello in November, both in F4 cars and in physical training.
Finally, on 7th December, Laura Camps was declared the senior winner of the Girls On Track programme, alongside junior winner Maria Germano Neto.
On winning the Girls On Track programme, she said “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting it. There’s a reaction posted on Facebook, which I dislike a lot because I start crying a lot. It was amazing, I couldn’t even express myself - like the joy I was feeling.”
Camps described herself as being very grateful at the opportunity of being in a formula racing academy with Ferrari. “I knew I wouldn’t have [open wheel experience] outside from that programme, so it was a nice opportunity to show and demonstrate what I’m capable of.” Despite only spending one year in the FDA, she says she still remembers her time well; “thanks to that, I’m having a lot of opportunities now.”
In terms of working off-track with the FDA, it was a lot of training. “Most of the time, for me, since I was testing and not going to races, consisted of gym sessions twice a day, some two hours of mental training.”
“In the gym, we also used to train all together. […] We were bonding, training together, we always competed with each other. It was like ‘Oh, I’m better than you at this’ or ‘I can lift more weights than you’.”
I also asked her about simulator work. “The only time I was going to the sim was with Iron Lynx in their headquarters. Even if my colleagues, for example Maya [Weug], were going to a race, and I was going with her, I was also going to the simulator, which didn’t give me priority. They had the priority, the drivers who were actually racing. [...] I think I did more simulator days than tests.”
In March 2022, Camps joined the Iron Lynx training programme, which would then allow her to test in Italian F4. Throughout the year, she was able to take part in at least five public test weekends, including at Monza, where she was one of a record 45 drivers to take part in the pre-event test (interestingly, she was the only one from the test to not participate in the F4 event).
Describing her experience at the F4 tests, Camps hinted at the aforementioned test, saying, “It was hard, because you were driving with everyone, and I don’t lie to you if I say there were like 40 cars on the track. But I could focus on myself, so it was easy.”
She was also allowed to test in Barcelona at the end of the year in a post-season test under Spanish F4. “Barcelona was pretty enjoyable. It was [my] home track, which I was so happy about, I was so excited. And also my last test with F4 and FDA, so I was trying to make the best out of it. It was very, very good.”
Being left behind by Ferrari
At the end of 2022, it looked like things were on the up for Laura Camps. She had tested many times over the year, and made quick progress during both her time on-track as well as off-track. However, the FDA decided to mutually part ways with her.
This sent shock throughout the feeder series community. Outside of the FDA’s founding year, Camps was the first person to be let go from the academy at the end of their first year.
Initially, the reasoning behind the partnership ending was unknown, but Camps tells me that it’s not a fully private matter. “I knew I was being dropped out in November, but I didn’t say it until January 1st because that’s when the contract was terminated. I felt a little bit, maybe not disappointed, but sad that they didn’t… say goodbye or didn’t post anything about it.”
“A lot of people were asking questions and I was very overwhelmed at the time, but I think it was, like a mix of things, mostly economically. I was told by different people who were paying for my season that they wouldn’t be paying for my season anymore.
And if someone’s not paying, Ferrari’s not paying the season for you. It was a combination of different stuff and things I couldn’t control.”
In a statement in March 2022, alongside Iron Lynx testing in Formula 4 cars, Ferrari announced that they would also support Laura Camps’ karting in the WSK Super Masters Series in the KZ category, a famous karting series won previously by NLS driver Beitske Visser and a certain Max Verstappen.
Later in the year, Camps also competed in several rounds of the Spanish Karting Championship.
At the time of the interview, despite already knowing of any impending financial issues, Camps was asked if she believed that splitting her time between competing in karting and testing formula cars potentially put some racing opportunities out of her reach.
“I don’t think so, because, in the end, it’s so hard to have sponsors, so you just go with what you have.”
“However, this year, I told my dad, ‘No, I don’t want to do karting races. I want to focus on cars. I’ll do whatever to race cars, even if I have to stay one full year without driving, so I can find a good opportunity’, and that’s what I’m doing.”
“So I don’t think karting has made me miss opportunities. I think [it’s] the other way, it created me an opportunity back in 2021, when I was doing the Girls On Track. I started a new category, and I was doing so good that I don’t know what happened to me, but I got chosen to [join] the FDA, so I must be good.”
At the time of publishing, Ferrari have still not acknowledged Laura’s time at their academy after her departure.
Formula racing breakthrough in India
In 2023, Camps had to pull back from racing in Formula cars after the FDA contract terminated, and throughout the year was saving up to finally go somewhere. Then, in late October, current F1 Academy driver Lola Lovinfosse had to step back from the Indian Racing League, and just a few days before the first round started, the Hyderabad Blackbirds team picked Camps as their replacement.
The 2023 season of the Indian Racing League was supposed to be its biggest yet, with another 24-driver field, and there would be new venues for the series with the Buddh International Circuit, as well as a street track at Island Grounds.
However, multiple factors, including Cyclone Michaung, which killed 17 people, meant that six races were instead held at Madras International Circuit, and the season was concluded early.
Laura described her participation in the series in a very pleasant way. “I remember being called on a Wednesday, and Thursday night I was already flying to India. I arrived on Friday, I went directly to the track, just sleeping two hours, jet lag, seat fit, free practices, new track, new car, everything was just so new.”
“And in the end, I was doing good. Then Sunday it started raining so hard. I thought we were not going to race, but then they didn’t give us a red flag, instead they let us race.
It was all flooded, so everyone was just trying to stay on track, because it was kind of impossible. I started last, obviously because I was the least experienced in there, but I went up to P5. It was nice, I was going pretty fast in the end.”
“Then the next two weeks it was just chaos. We went home, and then three weeks later we were back. Suddenly, we were meant to go [to] that track, we couldn’t go, then the cyclone came. We couldn’t race, and we were stuck at a hotel.
It was just a very nice experience and it was so funny. I thought I was gonna die from the cyclone. In the end we raced, but my car had, I think it was a clutch problem, and I wasn’t able to race, but it was fun.”
In terms of dealing with jet lag, Camps says she was initially too nervous to fall asleep.
“First time [being in India], I got a big jet lag, like massive jet lag, and I was only staying there for three days. But then, when we had to stay there for two weeks, I didn’t have that much of a jet lag. I tried to keep going with the racing, and it was all good, so no jet lag.”
The Indian Racing League splits their driving time between a male and a female driver, Camps drove three races in the No. 9 Hyderabad Blackbirds car, with Anindith Reddy driving in the other three. Together, they finished eighth in the standings, with a single podium finish from Reddy in race 5.
Months later, the F1 Academy series was rising in popularity. Already in its second season, one of Susie Wolff’s bold decisions put into play was the introduction of the wildcard entry, which was to be driven by a local female talent.
So, in June, when the F1 Academy arrived in Barcelona for its third round, fans expected there to be someone up-and-coming from Spain to drive as a wildcard with the previous year’s constructors champion, Prema Racing.
Rumours then came along, which centred around who would be this wildcard entry. During the series’ previous round in Miami, the wildcard driver, Courtney Crone, was announced at the start of that race week, so naturally the rumours came around at the same time.
Camps looked to be the favourite at the time, alongside Iron Dames karting driver Natalia Granada. Camps also posted on her Instagram on hanging out with Maya Weug, who was already driving in F1 Academy with Prema that weekend.
This interview was conducted in July. By then, the F1 Academy weekend was long gone, and there was no wildcard at all. On the Thursday of the race week, when drivers usually do track walks, F1 Academy confirmed there were no plans for a wildcard at that round. When asked if Camps ever spoke with anyone at F1 Academy about a wildcard seat, she replied, “No, they never asked.”
“I had my thoughts about it. I spoke with some people, and I’m like ‘what do you think about this?’, and they said ‘I don’t know, if you want to do it, maybe we can manage to look into it. But then, it’s been a long time since we last raced in F4 [cars]. These girls have plenty of races, testing, and you’re gonna go there, you’re probably going to be last, and then, what’s gonna happen [next]?’”
“Yeah, I thought about it, and it may be just a waste of money, instead we could invest it in something else, that we actually are. But no, they never said anything, or contacted me, or whatsoever.”
Looking ahead, but in another category
Unfortunately, formula racing is incredibly expensive. It’s one of the main reasons that the fate of the free-to-join W Series was cut so short (alongside other factors). Even the lowest categories of open-wheelers could cost at the very least $20,000 per race weekend.
Many sports have vast inequality when it comes down to the funding put forward towards male athletes versus female athletes. Naturally, that would also translate in motorsports as well, and it more than likely does, but in the last few years, this inequality has started to die down in the lowest categories.
Camps believes she would definitely need more track time in higher categories to get noticed by sponsors. Asking her about the higher difficulty for female racers to get sponsors, she says, “Once, I thought it was, because for example if you are an investor, you’re not going to invest in something [that] you don’t know if it’s going to work, that’s for sure.”
“But I think it’s the same for everyone. I can say I’m Lewis Hamilton and I’m very fast, but then I need to prove it, and it’s hard for someone to sponsor you if you haven’t done pretty much anything in terms of racing. For example, I’ve only been racing in India, and I only completed one race from three, so it’s kind of hard to find someone.”
“Instead, we are trying to go to other paths, to other ways to find sponsors, and that’s what I’m doing right now. Like, I’m working on my socials, I’m working on my sim racing, I’m doing sim racing videos, I’m gonna try other racing cars. I think, at some point I got stuck mentally in something, so that’s why I didn’t create the opportunity, and now I’m creating it.”
Camps spoke on planning anything else, especially in formula racing. “Other than India, no [more] formula. I think that chapter is quite closed for me [as] it’s pretty expensive. And then, we are looking into other stuff, such as GTs or even electric races. So, we’re looking into it, and it looks good for the end of the year. I hope, in 2025, I will be racing in something good.”
One of Iron Dames’ drivers, Rahel Frey, mentioned in 2022 that, alongside racing in the World Endurance Championship and GTWC Europe, she became Project Manager for the hot pink all-female racing team. This meant she also looked after and developed the younger talent, which at that time was only Doriane Pin, Maya Weug and Laura Camps.
Camps says she remembers her limited time with Frey well. “During my 15 or 18 days of testing, I only saw Rahel once. Maybe, throughout the whole year, I only saw her that time, so kind of surprising.
But that time, she was like ‘Oh, would you mind maybe trying racing F4 in India?’, and I was like ‘What, in India, like what are you saying?’, then two years later I’m going to race in India again.”
“She was asking these questions like ‘Would you mind trying GTs?’, and we all said yes. I remember having dinner, being with both Maya and Doriane. So we were just having weird conversations - at that time it felt weird, but right now it makes sense. She mentioned [GTs], but we didn’t get the opportunity.”
Finally, Camps was asked about the support she gets from Andrea (who, after all the photos of them together, I am pretty certain is her girlfriend). Instantly smiling, Camps says, “she’s good support for me, she’s always cheering for me.
She works a lot, so whenever I race, she can either not come or watch it. But she’s always supporting me in whatever I do, whatever decision I make, and she’s also rooting for me, so that’s always positive.”
Thank you to Laura Camps, as well as her management at Un Café Media, for the interview. You can also watch the interview in full, with additional photos, on our Youtube channel.
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