Women in Motorsport: Speakers Who Are Changing the Story

Women have always been part of motorsport. They just haven't always been visible in it. That's changing, and the numbers are hard to ignore.

According to F1 and Motorsport Network's 2025 Global F1 Fan Survey, three in every four new fans of the sport are women. For example, in F1, women now make up 42 percent of the total audience. Drive to Survive accelerated that shift dramatically, bringing the sport to millions of people who'd never watched a race before, and who came in wanting more than a result: they wanted characters, stories, and people they could see themselves in. The F1 Academy, launched in 2023 and now with its own dedicated TV series, is responding to that appetite by building a visible pipeline of female racing talent. Even the merchandise conversation has changed: Cadillac's first fanwear collection, designed with Tommy Hilfiger, was built explicitly around the question of how to deliver for women, because the team recognised that female fans had been an afterthought for too long. Several pieces sold out within days of launch.

What fans are asking for, on and off the track, is representation. People want to see people like them in the driver's seat, in the pit wall, in the paddock.

100 Years of Women: Motorsport & Monaco, captures exactly how long women have actually been part of this sport; bringing together 65 stories of women who've raced on the streets of the Principality, from iconic rally driver Michèle Mouton to the next generation, including Ella Häkkinen, daughter of two-time F1 champion Mika. 

The conversation has opened up. And with it, a PepTalk speaking roster of women with serious motorsport credentials who are bringing what they know to the conference stage.

Whether you're planning an event focused on leadership, high performance, diversity, or simply want a speaker with a genuinely compelling story, here are ten women from the world of motorsport worth knowing about.

1. Susie Wolff MBE

Susie Wolff was the first woman to take part in an F1 race weekend in over two decades when she drove for Williams in practice sessions in 2014 and 2015. Since then, she's channelled that experience into structural change: she founded Dare to be Different to encourage girls into motorsport, and now serves as Managing Director of the F1 Academy. Her MBE recognises her contribution to women in sport. On stage, she speaks on gender equality, inclusion in male-dominated industries, and leadership under scrutiny.

View Susie Wolff's speaker profile

2. Claire Williams OBE

Claire Williams ran one of Formula 1's most storied teams for over a decade. As Deputy Team Principal of Williams Racing, she led the business through some of its most commercially and competitively challenging years, in a paddock that wasn't designed with women in mind. Her keynotes draw on leading under pressure, managing legacy businesses through disruption, and making high-stakes decisions in high-profile environments.

View Claire Williams's speaker profile

3. Ruth Buscombe-Divey

Ruth Buscombe-Divey holds a first-class engineering degree from Cambridge and spent over eight years as Head of Race Strategy across Ferrari, Haas, and Sauber. Her early research into the Drag Reduction System fed directly into the version introduced in F1. She now works as an analyst and commentator for F1 TV and speaks on data-driven decision making, performance under pressure, and women in STEM. Her talk on how Formula 1 uses big data, AI, and machine learning to gain competitive advantage translates cleanly into any sector where speed, accuracy, and data quality matter.

View Ruth Buscombe-Divey's speaker profile

4. Bernie Collins

Bernie Collins was Head of Race Strategy at Aston Martin and is now an F1 strategy analyst and commentator. Like Ruth, she brings a sharp technical background to speaking engagements, covering strategic decision making, leadership, and high-performance team dynamics. For organisations that want to understand how elite teams make complex calls in real time, she's an excellent fit.

View Bernie Collins's speaker profile

5. Penny Mallory

Penny Mallory is a former rally driver turned mental toughness expert, and one of the most in-demand resilience speakers working today. Her sessions on mental toughness, peak performance, and building a resilient mindset are grounded in lived experience rather than theory. Particularly strong for leadership teams, sales organisations, and anyone working on culture change.

View Penny Mallory's speaker profile

6. Nicole Bearne

Nicole Bearne is a performance psychologist whose career has been built around motorsport. Having worked with drivers and teams at the highest levels of the sport, she understands exactly what separates performance under pressure from performance in ordinary conditions, and how to build the former in a business context. Her work sits at the intersection of sport science, psychology, and leadership development.

View Nicole Bearne's speaker profile

7. Jodie Kidd

Jodie Kidd arrived in the public consciousness as one of Britain's most recognisable models in the 1990s and early 2000s. What became clear over time was that cars were her real passion. She's a Maserati racing driver who has competed on European circuits and taken on the Mille Miglia for Jaguar, and she hosts her own automotive YouTube series, Kidd in a Sweet Shop, which has built a devoted following. She speaks on creativity, entrepreneurship, and sustainability, and works particularly well for automotive and lifestyle brands or events that want someone with genuine crossover appeal.

View Jodie Kidd's speaker profile

8. Derin Adetosoye

Derin Adetosoye became the first Black female presenter for an international motorsport rights holder when she was chosen from 800 applicants for Formula E in 2020. She went on to anchor the F1 Academy series on Sky Sports F1, the all-female racing series whose companion TV show has helped bring female motorsport to a mainstream audience. A broadcaster, content creator, and diversity advocate with a substantial Gen Z following, she's a strong choice for events focused on inclusion, representation, media, or the future of work.

View Derin Adetosoye's speaker profile

9. Charlie Martin

Charlie Martin is a racing driver and activist who has become one of the most prominent transgender athletes in sport. She's competed at the highest levels of endurance racing and speaks openly and articulately about navigating both the physical and cultural demands of the sport as a trans woman. For events focused on inclusion, identity, and what genuine belonging in a workplace looks like, she offers a perspective that is both specific and widely resonant.

View Charlie Martin's speaker profile

10. Katie Traxton

Katie Traxton is a professional stunt driver and motorsport specialist whose career takes in some of the most technically demanding driving work in the industry. Her story of building expertise in a field that demands absolute precision and mental composure speaks to themes of mastery, persistence, and performing under pressure, themes that translate across sectors.

View Katie Traxton's speaker profile

What These Speakers Have in Common

The ten women above span drivers, strategists, analysts, presenters, and team leaders. They cover performance psychology, data science, diversity, leadership, and resilience. What they share is that their expertise is rooted in one of the most competitive, technically demanding environments on earth.

For more on how motorsport thinking translates to business performance, take a look at our guide to motorsport speakers, or browse the full motorsport speakers category on PepTalk.

Ready to book one of these speakers for your next event? Get in touch at bookings@getapeptalk.com, call us on +44 203 835 2929 (UK) or +1 737 888 5112 (US), and we'll have a proposal to you within hours.

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