Aston Martin’s Jessica Hawkins is returning to a full-time racing programme this year, and has opened up on her F1 prospects after a successful test in late 2023.

Hawkins became the first female driver to test a Formula 1 car since 2018 when she drove the Aston Martin AMR21 at the Hungaroring towards the end of the 2023 season.

Jessica Hawkins Hungaroring test: I’m proud of my F1 test

Hawkins has been Aston Martin’s driver ambassador for several years, with the British driver seeing her role expanded to head up the team’s F1 Academy entry and serve as a mentor figure for Tina Hausmann.

Now aged 30, Hawkins has become a household name for aspiring female drivers in recent years, having been a regular points scorer and a podium finisher in the now-defunct but then-trailblazing W Series.

A well-liked and respected figure in the Aston Martin squad, Hawkins was given the chance to step up into F1 machinery during a TPC (testing of previous cars) outing in late 2023 when she was set loose at the Hungaroring in the 2021 car – and duly impressed.

In fact, her times – which have never been publicised – stacked up so well against the then-reigning Formula 2 Champion and current Aston Martin reserve Felipe Drugovich that 2016 F1 World Champion Nico Rosberg attempted to coax further information out of her during a televised interview shortly after the test.

Claiming to know just how quickly Hawkins had driven the Hungarian circuit, Rosberg said, “What everybody doesn’t know, I know your lap times when you were testing.

“I can tell the little secret that you were rapid compared to the official test driver.

“I’m not going to say the exact times because I know those too, but you were super rapid.”

While that did not prompt Hawkins to add any further details, she replied: “It went well and I maybe surprised myself, I was very happy with how it went.”

Reflecting on that memorable day in Budapest almost 18 months later, Hawkins said she can look back on her outing with pride.

“It’s very rare that I’m happy – that a racing driver is fully happy with their performance,” she told PlanetF1.com in an exclusive interview.

“It’s very rare that that happens, that they can come away from a session or a race or qualifying and say, ‘I’m 100 percent happy with that’.

“But I came away from that… not 100 percent happy because, as a racing driver, there’s always something on the table. I’m very hard on myself.

“I’m very, very hard on myself in every aspect of life, especially when it comes to my performance, but I came away from that test, thinking, ‘Do you know what? I did a good job’, and I walked away with my head held high, thinking, ‘I’m proud of myself for that’, and I never ever say that about myself, ever.”

Explaining that the feedback she’d received afterward had been positive, she laughed that it had been several days before her neck stopped signalling to her about the 26 laps she’d done.

“My neck was not okay and it gave me a firm reminder for about two days afterward that I’d been driving a Formula 1 car – not that I would ever have forgotten!” she said.

“But it was there in my neck!”

But while Hawkins’ single-lap pace may have been evident, she said racing in Formula 1 would be an altogether different level of challenge.

“Racing is racing, it’s another story. I haven’t done Formula 2 or Formula 3,” she said.

“So no, it would take some preparation years for sure. But should I get the phone call for FP1? I’d feel ready for it.”

With Hawkins enjoying the benefits of her association with Aston Martin, she paid tribute to the impact Lawrence Stroll’s outfit has had on her career progress.

“They’re giving me the tools to do what I do,” she said.

“My role here, since I started, has grown quite significantly, so my development has been a lot –  and they’ve given me the tools to be able to do that, and they’ve really put their trust in me and I’ll be forever thankful for them. And I love it. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

Given that the focus on Le Mans and a sportscar career seems to be moving Hawkins away from the Formula 1 and single-seater ladder, does she still harbour any hope of one day climbing into an F1 car on the grid?

“Of course, I’m aware that the chances are very, very slim. I’m not silly,” she said.

“But you can never rule anything out. I’m just aware that the chances are very, very slim.

“That doesn’t mean that I won’t ever drive a Formula 1 car again. That doesn’t mean that at all. I think the chances of me driving a Formula 1 car again are high. But of course, nothing confirmed.

“Do I think I’ll race Formula 1? I don’t know. My chances are slim, but never rule it out. My fingers are crossed!”

Jessica Hawkins returns to full-time racing

Alongside Hawkin’s duties with Aston Martin this year, she returns to a full-time racing programme with Comtoyou Racing in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.

The aim, she explained, is to continue her own development path to build experience and prepare for a Le Mans challenge in the coming years.

“With my manager, David Brabham, we looked at all the different options,” she said when asked about the appeal of the championship.

“GT World Challenge is obviously probably the toughest option that we had.

“We wanted to do what was best for my development, and we thought that this championship is best for my development, and it’s going to prepare me best for the Le Mans route in a good few years time. It’s the place to be.

“The championship is great. It’s an SRO championship. It’s leading on from the championship that I did last year in British GT, running as an SRO championship as well last year. Yeah, it seemed like a good place to be.

“We wanted to race with Comtoyou racing. So that was good. They’re a great team. They had great success last year, winning the Spa 24 hours. It seems like the perfect place for my development.

“I did five races out of seven last year. That’s not a full championship. The year before, I didn’t race – I think, the year before, I didn’t race either, and maybe the year before that, I didn’t race either.

“So whilst I’ve been racing for many a year, I’ve actually had massive gaps in my career, and I’ve missed out on that development. So, to have the opportunity to go from one season into another is something, and I have a full season confirmed.

“I haven’t had that in a very, very long time. So actually, I think I’ve probably got a lot of development to do.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m pleased with the level that I’m at, but I think I will only get stronger –  the level that I’m at now is good, but I think it could be excellent.

“I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think that I was good enough. It’s not worth the stress and all the other bits. So yeah, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe in myself, and I guess everybody here believes in me as well.

“Otherwise, they wouldn’t be making it possible. So I’m very excited – excited for the new challenge, because it is a massive step up, but I’m excited I’m in the right place.”

Aston Martin’s Arm partnership takes effect

In January, Aston Martin announced a new multi-year partnership with Arm, who joins as their AI Compute Platform partner.

The partnership will focus on technology and inclusion, with a particular focus on the areas of STEM in motorsport – Hawkins has become Arm’s official ambassador, and the intention is to create a more inclusive and equitable future for females across all areas of motorsport.

“We’re at the very beginning of our partnership with Arm, and it was a partnership that seemed like we had to do it just because our values aligned very similarly – we’re passionate about the same things, we want the same things, we want to help in the same areas,” Hawkins said of the arrival of Arm.

“So it was a partnership made for each other, I think.

“We recently launched a mentorship program running across both Arm and Aston, which is something that I think is amazing. This is just the beginning of the partnership, so I guess we’re still finding ways in which we can work together and things we can do to help but, it’s kicked off with a bang with this mentorship programme.”

At a time when Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and programmes have come under increasing pressure in some parts of the world, the continued focus on such positive initiatives in the world of F1 is “very, very important”, according to Hawkins.

“It’s important that we have more female participation within Formula 1,” she said.

“It’s also important to recognise how far we’ve come because, if I think back to when I first started karting, there were far less women than what there are now.

“We want to grow that number and we want women to feel like it’s a safe space for them – to be working in a place where they belong, as well as the men. This is a belief of both Arm and Aston Martin, so we will be doing as much as we possibly can to help even the numbers out.”

Such has been the progress in the area of inclusion, Hawkins said, that there are no identifiable weaknesses to address at this point – it is merely about keeping up the messaging to young girls and students that the world of motorsport is an open one.

“There’s always more that we can do, and we’re always going to find new ways to help,” she said.

“But I think there’s not like an offset barrier. I think it’s that maybe women are feeling like it’s not a place where they’re welcome.

“So it’s up to us to prove that it is a place where they are welcome, and it’s us to prove that there is a place for them in motorsport – whether that be in engineering, driving, mechanicing, or strategising or whatever area that may be.

“I think it’s making these jobs seem attractive to the younger generation, and making them realise that they deserve a place as much as the men do.

“I don’t think there’s one huge area of weakness. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing, keep holding these workshops, holding these events like we did on International Women’s Day, and showing that we’re doing everything that we can to make it a welcome space, but also recognising how far we’ve come in a relatively short amount of time.”

Read Next: Explained: Why the FIA has introduced even more flexi-wing directives