Written by Ramiza Donlic, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
Women have played an influential role throughout the history of motor racing. Many have taken to the wheels of motorsport machines, while numerous figures have worked tirelessly on the sidelines in various roles, shaping the racing world to the present day. Woman Spotlight Wednesday aims to take a look at the tales of these superwomen, who have surpassed various hurdles to reach where they are today.
Today´s article embraces the remarkable career of a 13 year-old Spanish-British driver, successful in every racing series she partook in, and joined the Mercedes AMG F1-Team Junior Programme, becoming the first female driver in the history to join the Mercedes camp.
The talk is of Luna Fluxá, and at the tender age of 13, she has achieved what few could achieve at her age.
Luna was born in Spain in 2010, and joined the SIlver Arrows´s Junior Programme in 2022, after several impressive karting outings. She started racing in 2017 at the age of seven, and has been traveling around Europe, competing across various series since 2019.
She kick started her career, attending the ´programa mujer y motor´, a series introduced by the Spanish Automobile Federation, with the goal to attract more females to participate in motorsport.
The following years, she went through several karting series, among them the WSK and IAME Euro Series events, consistently reaching the finals. Luna won the IAME Euro Series in 2021, in the X30 Mini, accumulating 303 points.
After two more seasons in the same karting series, she stepped up to the FIA Karting European Championship - OK Junior, racing for feeder series giants Prema. After a good year of development, she remained in the category for 2023, making further progress.
In 2022 Luna joined the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team´s Junior Programme, having impressed in her initial karting seasons.
She was among two new junior drivers to join the team, adding to the five experienced drivers Mercedes has on its roster.
Gwen Lagrue, Mercedes' Driver Development Advisor, said that it was a special day for the team. As Russell was promoted to the first team, as well as Fluxá's arrival. “Luna is an incredibly exciting karting talent.”.
"It’s also special because we have recruited our first female driver to the programme, with Luna who won the European Mini X30 championship last year.”
Fluxá is one of nine drivers supported by the F1 Academy Discover Your Driver scouting programme, which supports three female drivers in each category of the COFTA [Champions of the Future Academy] series.
Luna has already showcased her talent in the first-ever round held in Abu Dhabi at the end of 2023, finishing in the top five in both finals, whilst battling for the podium in the OK-N Junior Class, before stepping up to the OK-N Senior for the start of 2024, with the support of F1 Academy.
With two victories across the first round, Luna Fluxá now leads the championship standings by 25 points over her closest competitor.
Luna isn’t the only racer in her family. Her elder brother Lorenzo Fluxá currently drives for Van Amersfoort Racing in the Formula Regional European Championship.
Luna’s motorsport pedigree at such a young age have earmarked her as one to watch out for in the future, and will definitely be on every motorsport fan’s radar for the years to come, as she ascends the metaphorical motorsport ladder.