Saturday with Kayls Cole, Cork's aspiring F1 driver: 'I'll usually be driving'

Motordriving is a very physical sport — you need to have a lot of neck strength, upper body strength and mental strength to do well.

08.15

I’ll be up at around 8.15am. I’ll usually be driving, testing a new car or doing something with a team on social media on Saturdays. The first thing I’ll do is make my bed, have a shower and head downstairs for breakfast.

09.00

I’m training a lot at the moment, so I’ll have blueberries, beetroot, turkey rashers and eggs. A lot of people think motor racing just involves getting in a car and driving fast, but it’s a very physical sport. You need a lot of neck strength, upper-body strength and mental strength to do well. When driving an F1 car, for example, you have to have good leg strength. The pressure you need to use on the brake is insane.

You definitely see it in the car whether you’ve been training in the gym or not. If you’re involved in an impact, you have to have built up the mental and physical strength to get back in the car afterwards. I had a crash last April, which stopped me achieving the championship I was aiming for, but because I’d been training for months, I was able to get back in the car three weeks later. Ever since I started focusing on weight training, I’ve become a much stronger person in the car.

11.00

The morning is usually spent going to the gym, working on content for social media, or having meetings with potential sponsors. I’m preparing to compete in the GB4 Championship with Fox Motorsport, running alongside the British GT package. GB4 is a direct stepping stone to the F1 Academy, with the championship awarding the highest-placed female driver a prize fund towards an F1 Academy seat in 2027. That makes this season massive, not just for me, but for Irish motorsport. It would open the door for Ireland to see its first ever female driver on a global Formula 1-level pathway.

I recently attended a test with FF Corse and Jamie Stanley as part of their Ferrari programme, which highlighted further opportunities that could open at international level. It’s extremely rare for an Irish female driver to reach this stage of the sport and I’m proud to be carrying the Irish flag while trying to prove that it belongs on the world stage.

13.00

Because I’m training intensely, I bring my lunch with me. It’s all about meal prep to stay on plan with my training. You have to be disciplined to do this. If you go off plan, you feel it in the car. When I go to the gym, I have that mindset. You have to be mentally focused and take a long-term view of your goals to stay on track.

Last year, mindset coach Michael Murphy helped me with my mindset and manifesting success through cognitive coaching. He gave me rituals to do before a race. I was sceptical at first, but then I started seeing results.

14.00

I live with my old race team, so I’ll hang out with them or go to their workshop. If I’m not near a car, I’m near a go-kart or a bike. A lot of my friends are men. Even in school, I tended to hang around with the lads more than the girls because they had the same interests as me.

I’m one of only two or three women on my course at Silverstone, where I’m studying to become a motorsport technician. I didn’t really get on well in school, so a more practical course like this, especially with my background in racing, suits me well.

A perfect Saturday for me would be spent on a racetrack in Spain or at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. My dream has always been to race Formula 1, but I’d love to take a Porsche GT3 RS around the track at Spa. I come back and forth to Ireland every month or two. I’ll see my family but also meet potential sponsors.

18.00

I don’t go out for dinner very often. I’ll cook something simple and meat-based. I’ll cook for myself. I wouldn’t trust any of the lads I live with to cook.

20.00

I’ll hang out with the lads I live with, visit others from my racing family over here or meet friends from college to play a game of pool. If I’m staying in for the night, I might watch Netflix.

22.30

I’ll aim to be in bed at 10.30pm, but it usually doesn’t happen. It’s more like midnight. I don’t sleep that well. I’m always thinking ahead.

This year has huge potential, but it will take Ireland getting behind my journey to make it happen. Who wouldn’t want to see an Irish girl make it to F1 level? If successful, it could inspire a new generation of young girls coming through motorsport and put Ireland firmly on the global racing map.

• Kayls Cole is a 22-year-old racing driver from Cork. She is currently working towards securing a seat on the GB4 grid this season — a championship that offers a prize fund for the top female driver to progress directly into F1 Academy in 2027, and actively seeking sponsors and commercial partners to help achieve her dream. Follow her journey, @kayls_cole_racing on Instagram.