In my racing career, I only ever did one interview in which I wasn’t asked about my gender. 

There is a huge misconception that motorsport is a male-dominated environment. It has been, but it is changing.

Everybody would always ask me “why aren’t there more women at the top level of motorsport?” It’s simply a numbers game - there are not enough girls starting at a young age.

To make it in Formula 1, which is the absolute pinnacle, is incredibly tough no matter what your gender.

There are only 22 seats on the starting grid and you’ve got every young driver dreaming of F1. If you have 1,000 little boys racing between the ages of eight and 10 and only 10-20 girls, it’s clear it’s going to be very difficult for even one of them to make it all the way to the top.

The change in technical regulations next year is going to make it more difficult for a female driver to race in F1.

There is going to be more down-force and bigger tyres. All the testing so far has indicated it’s a lot more physical for the drivers. In my time in F1, I never doubted I could be successful. I sadly never made it on to the starting grid of an F1 race, but during testing I completed a race distance. I knew I could drive that car fast.

A huge part of my preparation was the physical training - those were the days and hours nobody sees. I was always confident of saying that with the car regulations as they are, and F1 as it is, a woman can be successful.

With the new technical regulations though, it’s going to be tougher.

It’s too difficult to put a timescale on it but I would hope that within the next 10 years we’ll see a female driver on the grid of an F1 race.

Society is ready for the change. It’s never going to be something that happens overnight, it’s going to be a long-term project.

There are successful women in the paddock and in front of television cameras who are helping that wave of change. They are there are because they are the best at the job.

Source - BBC