I’m Sandra from Indonesia, I was given the opportunity to experience Formula E like never before through an invitation from the Formula E FIA Girls on Track program, alongside Maserati MSG Racing, which I really appreciate and feel very grateful about.
My day at the E-Prix was amazing; the most exciting, educational, and inspiring day of my life so far. I didn’t know what to expect in Formula E other than what I usually see on my TV, and was pleasantly surprised with the amount of detail, effort, and teamwork behind the making of a Formula E race.
I arrived at the venue in the morning and was greeted straight away with a lovely Formula E representative named Immy. She took me in and introduced me to the others on the Girls on Track program and talked me through the day’s schedule. After that, I was accompanied by Kezia Santoso, an Indonesian female racing driver, throughout my day and she explained to me a lot about the aspects of a Formula E race and motorsports in general during our activities.
First, we went to the Girls on Track area with all the fun games and activities within the booths, then we went to the paddock and got to go into the Maserati garage to experience live qualifying, where i got a pair of headphones so i could hear the driver’s communication with the race engineer.
After that, we grabbed some lunch and got a hot lap ride with Mr. Jimmy Lukita, after which we went onto the grid before the race start. I watched the race from the grandstands and saw all the racing incidents, with cars hitting the wall and each other. Then we watched the podium celebrations before going into the media area where I got the opportunity to interview Maximillian Guenther - the race winner from Maserati MSG Racing.
During all that, I learned so much about the teams and the many roles within the racing teams - each one just as important as the other. I also learned about the Formula E team that organises and runs Formula E, bringing thrilling entertainment around the world.
The way a Formula E event is organised is beyond what I've ever experienced and to think this is a travelling event that is held in cities all over the globe is mind blowing in itself. On top of that, seeing the women behind Formula E and getting to meet some female racing drivers there was very inspiring to me.
I knew that there weren’t that many female drivers in the world but seeing quite a lot of them at the event was amazing - it raised my hope of working in the motorsports industry myself.
I experienced a lot of awakening and inspiring things for the first time like riding a hot lap in an electric car driven by a professional racing driver, being in the garage as the drivers are out doing qualifying and nailing pole position, interviewing the race winner, being on the grid before the start, watching an actual racing incident right in front of me and smelling the tires’ rubber after a hard turn - all of which I will never forget in my life.
With that, I want to say thank you so much to Formula E and the FIA Girls on Track program, and to Maserati MSG Racing for the invaluable educating experience, and for the very appreciated efforts to involve more women in motorsports. I wish everybody a very good luck for the future, hopefully more people will be touched and blessed by this program to achieve gender equality in both motorsports and the world.