A Swiss woman on her way to Formula 1?

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This has never happened before. Two Swiss drivers are new to the junior program of a Formula 1 team. At Alpine that is Chiara Bättig (12) from Wettswil am Albis ZH.

Léna Bühler (25) docked at Alfa-Sauber, the people from Hinwil send the woman from Vaud to the new women’s racing series “F1 Academy” in 2023. For Bühler, however, the dream of Formula 1 will remain unfulfilled, with its rather modest results so far in young formula racing.

With Bättig it is different. The talent can rightly say: “Formula 1 is my big dream.” The woman from Zurich will only be 13 in two weeks, but she has already made her mark on the kart. In 2021 she will be second in the FIA ​​”Girls on Track” program. In 2022 she outperformed all the guys in the Kartbox.ch team and became Swiss champion as a newcomer to the “OK Juniors” class.

A probationary season at Alpine

No one else in the family has gasoline in their veins. But when Bättig sees another girl driving on the go-kart track in Wohlen AG, her passion for acceleration awakens.

Now she is doing her PhD together with five other girls at Alpine in the karting program “Rac(H)er”. “It’s a great opportunity, Chiara will be guided and coached by Alpine this season. At the end of the year it will be decided who they will continue to support,” says mother Natascha Kessler, who crosses all of Europe as a women’s power duo with her daughter.

All the big F1 stars like Hamilton and Co. have ever started karting. But of course Bättig still has a long way to go in Formula 1, even though she is already part of the show in England at the presentation of Ocon and Gasly’s new F1 car.

Families must pay the budget themselves

However, there is no financial support from the F1 team. The family has to fight for the budget itself. A single race at international level already costs around 12,000 francs.

High school student Bättig, who attends a gym in Zurich, drives with used go-kart equipment for cost reasons and rarely has new tires. “We have invested a lot of our own money so far and are very grateful for the support of the family, patrons and sponsors,” says the mother, who takes on part-time office work for Chiara’s karting team. The father works in the IT sector. “We have to be realistic. But we are willing to give up a lot for Chiara’s dream,” says mom.

If Formula 4, Formula 3 etc. continue in the future, the family can no longer do it themselves. But at best, Alpine will help your career even more than it does now.

Source : Blick