F1 US Grand Prix: The 16-year-old living her motorsports dream

Chloe smiling, wearing red race overalls on a race track, with a white top. The overalls have advertising writing on the shoulders and across the front. The background is slightly blurred, with a streak of blue visible.

By Charlotte Simpson & Manish Pandey

BBC Newsbeat

When Chloe Chong thinks back to her childhood, her six-year-old self would never have dared to dream she would be where she is now.

This weekend the 16-year-old will be competing at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, as part of the F1 Academy support race.

The F1 Academy was launched this year as an entry-level series for women drivers taking their first steps in motorsport.

It has featured 15 women competing across five teams, with the first race taking place in Austria in April.

And this weekend for their season finale, Chloe will be sharing the race weekend with her hero Sir Lewis Hamilton.

“Lewis has done an amazing job, being able to inspire so many people. And I think that really drives me to keep pushing as hard as I can,” she says.

It’s not the only connection Chloe has with the legendary British driver, having taken her first racing steps at the same karting track as him.

“It’s so cool to start in the same place because he inspired me from a young age to start karting,” she tells BBC Newsbeat at Buckmore Park Kart Circuit in Kent.

“I’m really grateful for everything he’s done not only to help women in F1, but also to help diverse ethnicities come into sports in general.”

Female F1 Academy drivers with Lewis Hamilton who is standing in the middle, wearing a black top with branding. The others are wearing black and red tops with five of them kneeling in front as the others stand. The background has the rear wing of racing cars on each side, with red adversiting boards behind them.

Chloe says the memories start “flooding back” when she’s on the track.

“This place feels like home, but it also feels like a different world to me. Racing in such big cars, you kind of forget where you came from,” she adds.

“And I think it’s always nice to come back, build on those memories and stay grateful for where you are today.”

The teenager says her decision to start racing at the circuit came about when she was as young as five.

She remembers “always wanting to go into a car”, and that eventually happened when she “begged and begged my parents”.

“My parents weren’t into racing, really,” she points out. “We watched F1 and that brought about a passion for sport in me.”

Chloe did think about going straight into the F1 big league, but her dad reminded her of the hard work needed along the way – and told her to start in karting.

“He told me that there was this track where Lewis Hamilton [started], and that all champions start in karting,” she says.

“So it was an automatic yes for me to start at the same place as one of my heroes. And I think that also ignited more passion in me for the sport.”

Chloe as a child, sitting in a red kart which has the race number "8" on the front in black on a yellow background. Chloe is wearing a blue race suit with white shoulders, and a white helmet, with her hands on the steering wheel. The background is the race tarmac.

And it’s not just Chloe and Hamilton who learnt the ropes at Buckmore Park Kart Circuit.

It was also where other successful British drivers like Lando Norris and Jenson Button learnt how to tackle bends and speed down straights.

“It’s super inspiring to learn the same things that they did at the same track that they did,” Chloe says.

But moving from karting to racing cars has been a “massive adjustment”.

“You can only get so much from karting, it builds the rhythm and the overtaking,” she explains.

“The real difference between cars and karting is that there’s just a whole different level of detail.

“I think it causes a lot more analysis. You’ve got to be more communicative with your engineer, with your team.

“And there’s more strategy and I think that was the biggest adjustment for me and probably the hardest one that took the most time.”

Chloe wearing a white race top, looking down. She is wearing headphones, with her left hand going towards her left ear. The background is blurred but coloured red with a steak of green.

At 16, Chloe is too young to legally drive on British roads but has been flying along at 150mph in her F1 Academy car on the track this year.

When she reflects back on her rookie year and her first time driving proper racing cars, she feels the season has “gone pretty well”.

“We always had that expectation, being the youngest driver on the grid, that there was no point in thinking that you could beat drivers that had six to seven years of car racing experience,” she says.

“You’ve got to respect those little gains, because in reality when you’re racing against girls with so much more experience, that’s always going to be the challenge.”

Her initial aims for the season were to finish races, and having finished sixth in her first race – winning points – she created “a moment that will live with me forever”.

“In general, the season’s been really great, really progressive,” she says.

The race in Texas this weekend is the only support race for the F1 Academy, but that will change from next year with the all-female junior category holding all its rounds as support races for grands prix.

F1 teams are also going to pick a driver each to race in the F1 Academy – with Chloe keen to be picked up by McLaren, Mercedes or Williams.

She feels these types of moves in motorsport are a “massive step forward” for women, “especially in terms of budgets, I think that’s one of the biggest challenges that we face”.

But for now, Chloe says she’s keen to live in the moment and appreciates “spending time with the team, learning a lot of stuff”.

“I’m just taking everything in and living that opportunity because I’m so grateful for what’s happened.”