Hitech Grand Prix joins five already existing teams in the all-female for next year, set to operate three cars. This means the grid of F1 Academy will expand to 18 cars in 2025, coming closer to other feeder series that offer more seats for young talents.
The British team is currently also competing in GB3 Championship, British Formula 4 and Formula Winter Series. With previous experience in these and other series, they will be a fair competitor to Prema Racing, ART Grand Prix, Campos Racing, MP Motorsport and Rodin Motorsport in F1 Academy.
Car for the Wild Card entry
While Hitech Grand Prix will have two cars with full-time drivers, the third car will host the Wild Card entry. The Wild Card is an initiative introduced in 2024. It aims to strengthen the talent pool in the race locations and give local female drivers more racing experience.
This year, we saw a total of six Wild Card entries featured on the F1 Academy grid. Now, half of them managed to secure a permanent seat for 2025.
Courtney Crone, who took part in the Miami Grand Prix, signed with her fellow American team MoneyGram Haas F1 Team. Ella Lloyd, who we was in Singapore recently, was announced as McLaren’s driver. And then, Nina Gademan will drive for Alpine after her impressive performance in Zandvoort.
Sign of growth of F1 Academy
This weekend, the series celebrates the end of only their second year running. While still relatively new, F1 Academy is doing a great work of supporting female talent. And also continuously coming up with new ideas and ways to make motorsport more accessible.
This year it was the Wild Card entry. In 2025 it’s the fact F1 Academy will expand to 18 cars from the previous 16.
Now, with the increased number of full-time seats, it creates additional opportunities and chance of progression to emerging talents who are ready to be one step closer to the pinnacle of motorsport.
F1 Academy doesn’t only give young women valuable on-track time and experience, but also tries to make them more visible. That is important for potential sponsorships or future deals in other series.
Thanks to the announced documentary series, similar to Formula 1’s Drive to Survive, this will be even bigger factor in the upcoming years.
“Change is already at motion” says Susie Wolff
“We are proud to be expanding the F1 ACADEMY grid to 18 cars in just our third season of racing. It’s clear to us that change is already in motion. And this expansion reflects not just the growing talent pool of drivers ready to make the step up, but also the incredible growth of F1 ACADEMY as a platform to develop female talent,” commented the Managing Director of F1 Academy, Susie Wolff
“Hitech Grand Prix have an impressive history in the junior formula. Including FIA Formula 2 and Formula 3 and we are pleased to welcome them to our grid from 2025.”
Hitech Grand Prix in support of young girls and women in motorsport
Oliver Oakes, the owner of Hitech Grand Prix, also spoke about the exciting news: “I’m delighted to confirm Hitech’s participation in F1 ACADEMY from the 2025 season. A platform that inspires and supports young girls and women to embark on their motorsport journey is one that we have always fundamentally believed in. And the opportunity to translate support into positive action by entering a team in F1 ACADEMY is really important to us.”
“We applaud the commitment and determination of Susie Wolff as the force behind the change that the series is driving.”
