Catharina Marie Flavia Caracciola (born 25 September 1996) is a current FF1M driver from Montreux, Switzerland. She won the 2014 FF4M Europe series before making her FF3M debut with MacPherson Racing under FJR's young driver programme. She progressed through the ranks before landing an FF1M drive for the 2017 season with FJR.
Early History[]
Caracciola was born to a German father and an Italian mother in a French hospital, although her official nationality is Swiss due to Montreux being her first home address. Her father, Christoph, was present at Montreux Casino when the 1971 fire broke out and narrowly escaped death, while her mother, Flavia, had a successful professional skiing career cut short due to a broken leg and concussion at Monte Rosa. Both parents were therefore reluctant when Catharina declared an interest in motorsport, but decided to give her a chance at Circuit Rumilly during a summer holiday to Annecy in 2010.
Caracciola's first experience in a go-kart was in the pouring rain. However, she was observed by onlookers as having an "unnaturally natural feel in treacherous conditions." Previous experience on the ski slopes of Turin may have contributed towards this. One onlooker was Evangelista Alfonsi, co-owner of Paolista Racing, who convinced the Caracciola family to stay at the circuit as Paolista Racing were taking part in a test on the following day and conditions were set to improve. Despite only getting an hour's dry running, Caracciola managed to set a laptime quicker than Mattia Alfonsi, the reason Paolista Racing was founded. Caracciola's reception from the young Italian driver was extremely frosty, and Paolista Racing ended up not taking her on in order not to upset their son.
Despite the setback, Caracciola continued to drive go-karts as a hobby and won multiple regional club-level events before Paolista Racing got back in touch and invited her to race for them in the 2012 European Karting Championship. Although not a championship contender, Caracciola had a number of impressive performances including a win in conditions similar to her first time in a go-kart. The following year saw Caracciola dominate the championship.
FF4M (2014)[]
2014 Europe[]
Following her karting success, Caracciola signed for MacPherson Racing to race in the 2014 FF4M Europe Championship. Throughout the season, she drove consistently, scoring points in every race. This was in spite of finishing way down in 21st at Mugello Race 2, but had scored a point for setting the fastest lap. With seven pole positions (five consecutive), four fastest laps, and three wins at Pau, Monza, and Barcelona, Caracciola won the championship by 19 points from her teammate, Massimiliano Fagioli.
FF3M (2015)[]
2015[]
Winning the FF4M championship gave Caracciola an automatic promotion to FF3M and the opportunity to be signed to an FF1M team's young driver's programme, which FJR grasped. Under James Brickles' recommendation, Caracciola stayed with MacPherson Racing for the 2015 season. Much like her first seasons in the European Karting Championship and FF4M, consistency appeared to be her priority as she finished the first seven meetings in the points. Spa was her breakthrough as she took a 2nd place in Race 1 followed by victory in Race 2, and then another win at Monza Race 2.
FF2M (2015)[]
2015[]
Rather unexpectedly, Caracciola was presented with an opportunity to finish off the 2015 FF2M season with STV Racing after Benjamin Pryor was promoted to FF1M. In her first FF2M qualifying session at Spa, a circuit she loves, she stunned the paddock by qualifying on the front row alongside Mattia Alfonsi, who was still being unfriendly towards her. She wasn't quite done yet as she went round the outside of the Italian at La Source on the first lap to take the lead. She survived a dramatic late collision with the charging Sergey Sirotkin at Eau Rouge, and the Russian's time loss meant that Caracciola was able to hold on for an unbelievable win on her debut. Her sprint race wasn't quite as successful, losing places during a cautious first lap and finishing down in 11th, but she returned the podium at Monza after a strong drive to 3rd from 13th on the grid in the feature race.
FF1M (2015-16)[]
2015-16[]
Following the conclusion of the 2015 season, Caracciola took part in the two-part young drivers test at Suzuka with FJR. In the morning, she set the 6th quickest time before slashing her laptime by more than a second in the afternoon session to go quickest, which caught the attention of Tornado's team boss. Caracciola would eventually secure a test driver role with FJR where she participated in all pre-season test days in preparation for the 2016 season and set times comparable to the team's race drivers, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg.
FF2M (2015-16)[]
2015-16 Asia[]
Once her FF3M season had finished, Caracciola was quickly promoted back to FF2M to finish off the 2015-16 Asia season, once again with STV Racing. She replaced fellow Swiss driver Louis Deletraz, who Brickles admitted was "just a placeholder for when Caracciola would inevitably regain her place in FF2M," although she had only just finished in the required top four in FF3M. Her first race was in Dubai, but qualifying was a rather inauspicious affair as STV grappled with the hard tyres. The feature race was a much more competitive showing as from 15th on the grid on soft tyres, Caracciola battled her way up the order and finished a commendable 5th behind her teammate, Benjamin Pryor. Her sprint race was more disastrous as she struggled with the hard tyres and had two collisions, including one with her teammate, although she was quick to admit fault after braking too late going into the first corner.
The Bahrain Outer meeting saw zero points for STV Racing, but the Bahrain GP meeting was much better. She qualified on the front row behind Vaino Kimminen and ran 2nd behind Pryor in the earlier stages before a collision with Esteban Ocon cost her a few positions. She eventually finished 5th after overtaking arch rival Alfonsi in the closing stages. For the sprint race, 4th on the grid became 12th during the first lap after being swamped at the start, but she staged a terrific recovery which included a double overtake on Nikita Mazepin and James Clark into turn 4. On the final lap, she overtook Pryor for 3rd going into the final corner and beat the Welshman by just six hundredths of a second across the finish line.
2016[]
Caracciola remained with STV Racing for the 2016 FF2M season with Pryor as her teammate, and she got off to a flying start by taking pole position for the opening meeting at the Nurburgring. Having been one of the first to pit, she dropped down to 5th on older hard tyres in the feature race, but in the sprint, she used her soft tyres to go from 4th to 1st at the start, and promptly controlled the race to take her second career FF2M win.
Three more podium finishes in the following four races put her in early contention for the championship, but then she hit a bad run of form with just two points scores in five meetings including a podium at the Silverstone feature race. At the Hungaroring, she was shoved off circuit twice and said afterwards that she "felt like I had a 'kick me' sign taped to my rear wing." At Hockenheim, she could've challenged for a podium finish, possibly a win, but a damaged wheel hub ended her chances. Monza saw a return to form with a win in the feature race and a 3rd in the sprint, and the Swiss driver finished 4th in the championship.
FF1M (2017)[]
2017[]
Before the 2016 German Grand Prix, FJR announced that Caracciola would be promoted to a race seat alongside Kevin Magnussen for the 2017 FF1M season, becoming the first female driver to race in FF1M.
Racing Record[]
Summary[]
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Ch. Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | EKC | Paolista Racing | |||||||
| 2013 | EKC | Paolista Racing | 1st | ||||||
| 2014 | FF4M Europe | MacPherson Racing | 14 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 108 | 1st |
| 2015 | FF3M | MacPherson Racing | 17 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 78 | 4th |
| 2015 | FF2M Europe | STV Racing | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 20 | 14th |
| 2015-16 | FF2M Asia | STV Racing | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 11th |
| 2016 | FF1M | FJR | TD | ||||||
| 2016 | FF2M Europe | STV Racing | 20 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 57 | 4th |
| 2017 | FF1M | FJR | 18 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 12th |
| 2018 | FF1M | FJR |
Race by Race[]
Canon (1950, 1986-Present)[]
| Season | Team-Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Pos. | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | FJR-Judd | AUS 13 |
ZAF Ret |
SMR 3 |
ESP 4 |
MCO 14 |
CAN Ret |
USA Ret |
AUT Ret |
GBR 4 |
HUN 16 |
DEU Ret |
BEL 15 |
ITA Ret |
PRT 10 |
MYS Ret |
JPN 7 |
BRA Ret |
MAC 14 |
12th | 18 |