Naomi Schiff - STAYING ON THE RIGHT TRACK

The racing driver turned F1 analyst on inspiring a new generation of motorsports fans, being backed by Lewis Hamilton and almost killing Daniel Craig.

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Naomi Schiff first tried go-karting at a family friend's birthday party at the age of 11 and was instantly hooked. Initially, though, Schiff had been wary of racing; born to a Belgian father and a Rwandan mother, she's mixed-race and didn't see anyone else at the track who looked like her.

"There weren't many girls or people of color," says Schiff, now 28. "I didn't feel like I fit in, and the idea of being compared with my counterparts was frightening." But after some tough love from her dad himself a racing driver before she was born Schiff went for it. "By the time I climbed out of the go-kart at the end of [my first] race, I was smiling from ear to ear," she says.

By 14, Schiff was representing South Africa-the country where she grew up in the Karting World Championship. She went on to race in tournaments including the Clio Cup China Series, which she won in 2014, and the all-female W Series. She also worked as a stunt driver on the movies No Time to Die (2021) and Jurassic World: Dominion (2022). But despite her successes, Schiff says it's been no easy ride as a Black woman with limited funds in what's still a very expensive, white, male-dominated industry.

She has now turned her attention to broadcasting, as an F1 analyst for Sky Sports and co-host of its YouTube show Any Driven Monday. It's a move she hopes will encourage more women and girls to take up motorsports. "If little girls turn on the TV, they'll see my face," she says. "If I was wearing a helmet, they probably wouldn't."