“It always felt like media fodder,” Danica Patrick was never close to joining Formula 1 as many claims she was


“It always felt like media fodder,” Danica Patrick was never close to joining Formula 1 as many claims she was

Danica Patrick

Danica Patrick is one of the all-time great woman racers in Motorsports. She is arguably the most accomplished female racer in history. Patrick is the first and only woman to win an IndyCar series race and the first to secure the NASCAR cup series pole. She also holds many records of being the first woman to achieve glory in the premier racing series.

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She was one of the few lucky female racers in history who was given the best cars to showcase her potential. This helped her to achieve glory in NASCAR and IndyCar series. But the premier open-wheel Racing series Formula 1 was one of her first dreams. Many reports during her prime years suggested her joining F1, but according to Patrick, none of them had any soul.

Talking in the ‘Beyond The Grid’ podcast, Patrick revealed that he never even had a proper F1 test other than a few media dramas. She said,  “I don’t think I was ever actually, really properly offering a test. It always felt like media fodder. It felt like something just to draw attention because I never got a phone call,”.

She pointed out that reports were coming out regarding her F1 entry that she didn’t know about. Patrick said, “There were two or three different times I feel like during my career where there were news articles in the media. I was like ‘nobody’s called me!’”

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Patrick also revealed that she was given the opportunity to race in exhibition events in F1 cars. She refused due to her distaste for the idea. Danica added, “I didn’t want to do that either. I’m ready to make some people a part of the show, you know, just by being unique and different. So, the last thing I wanted to do is kind of feed into that.”

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Danica Patrick was never really happy in England while pursuing her F1 dream

Danica Patrick
Danica Patrick

Danica Patrick, a big part of her initial carting and open-wheel career chasing her F1 dream in Europe before joining the IndyCar series. She once believed anything other than making the F1 was a failure. Danica wanted to be Lella Lombardi’s successor, but life in England made it really hard for her to chase that dream.

She said on the same podcast that F1 would never have been the best option for her as she never felt happy during her time in Europe. “I don’t know if Formula 1 really would have been the right place for me anyway. I just wasn’t that happy in England. I find that my results come when I’m the most emotionally happy and excited,”.

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She also joked that the breakfast in the country also played a part in her exit. Patrick said, “I also don’t know if I could have dealt with the breakfast much longer!”. Even if she had the F1 opportunity it was less likely that she would have been successful as she never had the solid success as her male counterparts in most places, she raced. But at the same time, she had the potential to do something bigger than what she had achieved in her career.

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