Untitled Document
 Formula
1, or F1, racing has been liked mostly by only men. It is
the fastest sport in the
world with the best drivers. Not many women are involved in this sport,
although there are a few names. Monisha Kaltenborn
is one of those names. She is not a F1 racecar driver. She is the
first woman to be a CEO of a F1 team! Her company, Sauber, is one of
the most respected teams in F1 racing.
“It feels good and I’m a bit proud about that,” said the
humble 40-year old CEO. “But
again it’s not my doing, it just so happened that I’ve done a
lot to be in the position.”
 Kaltenborn
was born in India, but later moved from her native country to Austria with her family.
She had always wanted to be an astronaut, but ended up becoming
a lawyer. After gaining her Austrian citizenship, she studied
law in college. Kaltenborn first
worked with motor racing in 1998 with
Fritz Kaiser Group, a shareholder of the Red Bull
Sauber F1 Team. Her duties were to look after the team’s legal and business matters. She worked her way
up the ladder to become a management board member in
2001. In 2010, she took over the whole company.
F1 racing is one of the most competitive sports and industries
out there. Kaltenborn admits that it is not easy.
Being the sport’s most high-profile and influential woman puts more
pressure on her. In 2009,
BMW withdrew from Formula 1. This created many hardships for team owners like Kaltenborn.
Many were uncertain about the development of Sauber’s cars
and staff.
 “The
biggest risk you have here is that
people don’t see the future in the team and then they want to leave and if you start losing
your key people at the time, the whole process comes to a standstill,”
said Kaltenborn. “It’s only later that you’ll realize that insecurity amongst your personnel has a strong influence
on the development of the car.”
Currently, two young drivers
race Sauber F1 cars, Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Pereze. Pereze is
a rookie in the sport. These
two racers have led their teams to become 7th in F1’s constructors’ world championship
table.
However, Kaltenborn still sees inequality and bias against women in the
sport.
“I think people, not the teams but others especially media, they don’t
ask a woman a question relating to performance,” she said referring
to how women are treated differently in F1 racing.
Kaltenborn has also been very active in encouraging women
to be involved in the world’s
fastest sport. “From the physical side of it, I don’t
see why a woman cannot be in Formula 1.” |
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