Meet the woman who became India's voice in Formula One

How often do you see a storyteller become the story?

- Rituraj Borkakoty

It’s as rare as spotting a globetrotting Formula One journalist from a cricket-obsessed South Asian country in the giant media centre of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.And if the journalist happens to be a female, it only adds an element of mystique.

For Niharika Ghorpade, it was love at first sight with motorsport when her father, a Formula One enthusiast, took her to a karting track many moons ago.

Despite coming from a family of car enthusiasts, Ghorpade never pursued a career in motorsport after competing at karting level in India. Her younger brother, Parth Ghorpade, did. A five-time national champion in India and the first Indian to test drive with the Ferrari Driver Academy, he went on to win the Formula Abarth Asian Championship.

But Ghorpade has also carved a niche of her own, having become India's only full-time F1 journalist who recently completed her 11th season as an accredited writer at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.