"I could have a little bit of an edge over the others": Q&A with Chloe Chambers

We’re currently talking during Formula 1’s summer shutdown, but Round 4 is coming up quickly in Zandvoort, with Singapore one month later. During the breaks between racing how do you stay physically and mentally prepared?

“As much as I would love to be driving, it's also really nice to have breaks. This is my time to relax, and spend time with family and I'm in Texas right now with the rest of my family simply hanging together. I have a sim in my room, so of course I drive every so often anyway. To stay fit, I have a gym at home and I enjoy cycling too which is a new hobby. Before Zandvoort, the Monday and Tuesday before, I'll head out to the Campos workshop and do some sim work before the weekend. F1 Academy has tested before in Zandvoort, but back in April it rained the entire time.”



Some new experiences you’ll be facing in the second half of the year include night races and intense heat, namely in Singapore and Qatar. What’s your history of racing at dusk and acclimatizing to such extremes?

“Our qualifying in Jeddah was at night, but we’ve never actually had any of our races in the dark. A lot of our time in the car has been during the day, even in Singapore when I was there with W Series, only the practice session was at night, so that will be different. The last time I did a night race I think was in go-karts, so it's been a little while!

“The heat in Qatar will play a big factor. I think for drivers in F1 Academy, we get away slightly better than the Formula 1 grid as our races are 35 minutes rather than 90 minutes, but you’re still dealing with that same heat, sitting in the car getting hot. In Miami, when I raced with W Series the first year the race was there, it was really humid, so I think I know what to expect.

“Last year I had some sports car races that were really, really hot, so I know that I can handle it. I think those races are where I feel the most confident because I don't really suffer too much in the heat. I actually prefer the heat over the cold, to a limit obviously, but I think I could have a little bit of an edge over some of the other drivers for that reason.”

One of the main points of differentiation with F1 Academy has been the affiliation some drivers have with Formula 1 teams. What has working with MoneyGram Haas F1 Team brought to you and what’s stood out so far?

“My experience so far has been great. It's my first time being able to see inside the world of Formula 1. I've seen it from an outside perspective but during the weekends that I've been to Formula 1 races, I've been racing myself, so it's been hard to pay so much attention to it and see what happens behind the scenes.

“For the British Grand Prix, I came over to spend the weekend with the team, and was able to sit in on the engineering debriefs, go and watch all of the sessions from the garage and see how everything works, which is something I’ve never seen actually. It was great to experience that and hopefully be able to put it to good use in the future.

“Everyone at MoneyGram Haas F1 Team has been super nice. If I’ve ever had any questions, I’ve felt really comfortable asking anybody in the team, and everybody during the race weekends always says hi and checks up on me. Even when they have their own schedules during a race weekend, like in Barcelona, a lot of the team came out to parc ferme to celebrate, so that was really cool and it was really nice to see the support that I have behind me.”



With four rounds left of this season, what are your targets and expectations?

“Hopefully more wins and more podiums! I'm not really searching for too much more, that's kind of all I can ask for myself and I think the rest of this year will be exciting because a lot of these tracks are tracks that most of the grid hasn't driven before, apart from Zandvoort. The rest of the tracks will be an interesting kind of showing of who can learn the tracks the quickest, and kind of be able to maintain that speed throughout the race weekends.”