I'm not doing what I do to prove what a woman is capable of. I'm not doing what I do to make Formula E more diverse. I'm doing what I do to be successful. If that's inspirational, then great.Collection: Inspirational
It's not a gender thing. You can pick anyone off the street and it depends on his or her own character how they can drive a car.Collection: Car
As F1 is a male-dominated environment, you have to prove yourself. And first of all that means being given the chance to prove yourself.Collection: Chance
You have to be ready to pounce when a rare chance comes.Collection: Chance
Your gender becomes irrelevant when you are in a performance-based environment.
I'm not like other females. I'm obviously different because of the path I've taken. I'm just as aggressive as the guys when I get my helmet on. Plus F1 is not just about taking risks, but knowing when to take risks and when to back off. It's also about strategy and managing your tyres.
There always will be stereotypes that women can't drive. When I hear the comments, it just makes me more determined to prove them wrong.
It's not a man's world any more.
Sir Stirling Moss, who said that women don't have the mental aptitude to take part in F1, is from a different generation. There's no reason why women can't rise to the top in F1. If you're not good enough you don't survive.
I never really thought about being a woman in a man's world. Then at the World Championships in 2000 I finished 15th. I was called on to the podium just for being a woman, and I realised things were going to be different.
I followed my dream as a child and I'm loving every minute of it.
We want to get more women into the sport, whether that be marshals, volunteers, engineers, female racing drivers. We want to open up the sport and show there's opportunities out there.
A woman can be physically fit enough to drive a Formula 1 car. I did the race distance in Barcelona so I have proved that it is possible.
I never let my gender define me but in my whole driving career I only ever did one interview not being asked about being a female.
If there's 10,000 little boys racing around the world and there's only 10 girls, best case 100, the numbers are stacked massively against us. If you don't increase the talent pool of young girls, you're not going to get the best drivers at the top.
In Formula E, because it has that structure of being quite cost-controlled and partly standardised, it means a small team or big manufacturer, if you get it right you have a chance for success which is great.
I dared to be different, I want to inspire others to do the same.
I'm a great believer that if you knock on enough doors and stay at the level maybe an opportunity comes.
Motorsport has always been my passion, and speaking about being a female in a man's world is part of my responsibility.
It doesn't bother me if I'm getting attention because I'm a girl.
As soon as you start listening to the gossip surrounding you, you just get dragged down by it.
If you are a successful woman, that can inspire the next generation.
It's all very well to talk about how it would be great to have a woman driver, a woman with sponsors and marketing, that's all great but to get into that drive you have to perform. That's what I realized early on when I got into Formula One.
I hated reading - I was not a 'good kid' - but I was determined when I put my mind to something.
I've never played on my gender.
Every racing driver in the world dreams of making it to F1, there's only 22 spots on the grid.
There's no prize for being the best woman.
I was always an adrenaline junkie, always competitive, always a speed freak.
Racing's in my blood. My mum met my dad when she went to buy her first motorbike in his shop.
When you're eight, you're not thinking about the future. But karting was always the big passion, the big love.
I like being feminine, it's my way of not conforming to the stereotype that if you're a racing driver you don't care how you look.
All the Formula 1 teams that Dare To Be Different has come into contact with - Ferrari, McLaren, Force India, Williams - they're all very proactive in supporting us. They allow us to contact their female staff members and they're very conscious of wanting to help increase their percentage of women in the industry.
If I was to turn around now and say that motorsport should be segregated, then my whole career would have been for nothing. Every result that I have achieved on my own would stand for nothing, if I couldn't compete against male drivers.
People have different ideas on how to increase female racing driver participation. My belief is that men and women should compete together.
Ultimately, a women's only championship is not going to get more females into motorsport as a whole.
I loved the speed of go-karting, but didn't have a lot of natural talent. The first time I went out on the track I found it scary; other karts were flying past and bumping into me.
I never thought of myself as a role model, but I've had so many messages from girls, women, mothers saying I was an inspiration.
We need to get more women into sport, whether that's young girls in karting or off the track. The more we get into sport, the more you are going to get rising to the top of the sport.
You need to get female talent which is good enough to compete at the right level because no team is going to compromise on on-track performance just to tick a gender box.
We are going to have to go through generations of change before we see the impact of females taking a role in the workplace and Formula 1 is no different.
When I decided to stop racing, I really wanted to give something back to the sport and for me it was always going to be about inspiring young girls and women.
These race cars are dangerous and you don't put someone in one unless you are 100 per cent certain that they can do what they need to do and be safe in the car.
I'm proud of my driver test. So many people were waiting for me to test and fail, so they could say that women would never be able to race in F1. I always view my time in F1 as before and after the test. Beforehand, I could sense everybody asking, 'What's she doing in the F1 paddock? Is she good enough?' After my test, that attitude changed.
I think from a driving perspective, the great thing of being in a simulator a lot is that you can constantly work on areas. Of course it's not like being in a real car, and you always have to remember that, but it means there are all these things that you can work on.
I have to perform every time I'm in the car, and show that I'm capable, and I need a little bit of timing and luck to come together.
I think we all, as drivers, come to the table with a package. It's either your speed and raw talent, your sponsorship money, your nationality. For me, one of my unique selling points is my gender, without a doubt.
The decision to retire was very easy. The timing had come to the point where it was very clear that my time was up.
I am someone that relies on my gut feeling.
As a sports person, you are always aware that at some point your career is coming to an end and you have to do something else. I always knew it had to end one day, and I was very determined to make sure I wasn't going to be known as an ex-racing driver.
My big break came at 22 years old when I joined the Mercedes Benz touring championship team.