Formula 3 Spotlight - Sophia Flörsch

Born on the 1st December 2000 in Grüwald, Germany, Sophia started karting in 2005. Following this, she became the first female and the youngest driver in the three series that she raced in for the next few years - the 2008 SAKC Championship, the 2009 ADAC German Championship and the 2010 European Championship Easykart.

In 2015, Sophia competed in the Ginetta Junior Championship. Here, she made history by becoming the youngest driver to win a race at Thruxton as well as being the first rookie to win both races at one weekend.

In 2016, Flörsch signed with BWT Mücke Motorsport to drive in the 2017 ADAC Formula 4 championship. At the end of the 2017 season, she had scored seventy one points and finished in thirteenth place.

Then in 2018, Sophia took part in her first Formula Three test. She drove a Van Amersfoot Racing car and on 6th July, it was announced she would be joining the team, making her debut at the Circuit Zandoorvort the following week.

The Macau Grand Prix took place in November that year. On Lap four of the race, Sophia and fellow driver Jehan Daravala made contact which sent Sophia's car into the Lisboa bend at high speed. Sophia's car launched off the car of driver Sho Tsuobi, going through the catch fencing and crashing into a photographer's bunker before coming to rest back on the car's wheels. Sophia, Tsuobi, two photographers and a marshal were all sent to hospital as a result. Sophia was then diagnosed with a spinal fracture for which she had to undergo a seventeen hour long surgery. Luckily, the operation was a success and Sophia began to start her incredible comeback.

Amazingly, on 14 December 2018, Van Amersfoort Racing confirmed that Flörsch would race for the team in the European F3 replacement series, the Formula Regional European Championship. In her first race in April at the Paul Ricard Circuit, she finished in ninth place. Sophia would then go on to score points are every single race that season. She achieved a best place finish of fourth twice that season, once in Hungary and once in Italy at Imola. When the season ended, Sophia finished in seventh place with one hundred and forty nine points. For comparison, eighth place in the championship had seventy points.

Then to make the comeback complete, she competed in the 2019 Macau Grand Prix, driving for the HWA team in Formula Three. She was sadly forced to retire from the race due to a mechanical issue. The fact that she managed to come back and race in the Macau Grand Prix at all after the injuries she'd sustained there just twelve months before is astounding.

In February 2020, Sophia won the award for World Comeback of the Year at the 2020 Laureus World Sports Awards. Not long after, Sophia made history again as she was singed with Campos Racing for the upcoming 2020 Formula Three season. She will be the first woman to race in the championship since its formation.

Alongside her Formula Three racing duties, Sophia will also compete in the LMP2 class of the European Le Mans series in 2020 driving for the Signatech team. This means she will also get the chance to compete in the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans.

With her impressive return to racing and her skills in the car, one can't help but wonder how soon she will make it into Formula Two - and from there, maybe even Formula One.

With more and more women rising up through the ranks in motor sport, like Jamie Chadwick (W-Series Champion and Williams F1 development driver) and Michelle Halder (TCR Junior Champion 2019), it seems to be only a matter of time before it becomes the norm in the entire motor racing community. And why shouldn't it be? It's awesome.

Sophia Flörsch has proven she has what it takes to compete at the highest levels of motor racing, be it Formula Three, Endurance Racing or Formula One. Hopefully her story will inspire other young women that they have what it takes too.

What do you think of Sophia's story? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.