Nicola Davies: “We need more women represented to bring more women in”

Earlier this year, Nicola Davies joined the Formula 1 championship winning team, Oracle Red Bull Racing, from online retailer, ASOS. Now, Nicola is part of the PowerTrains team which is creating the very first Red Bull engine ahead of 2026. Females in Motorsport spoke to Nicola about how she’s adapted from e-commerce to motorsport. 

Nicola never expected to work in Formula 1, or motorsport, but has been able to use her experience and skills to join a ground-breaking team. 

“I’ve always been very commercially focused in my roles, so I'm thinking about how to drive profit and revenue,” she tells Females in Motorsport. “Coming here is very different.

“That’s what drew me here - there’s so much to learn. It’s just the fact you can have this massive impact here. You don’t need to know about engines, and can still have that impact.” 

In her previous roles, Nicola worked with a lot of women, and is now adapting to a male-dominated industry, but she’s taking it all in her stride. 

“I’ve gone from very female dominated, to very male dominated but both have their benefits,” she says.”

Despite never having worked in motorsport before, Nicola has successfully applied her impressive background to her current role. 

“It’s about data and numbers, it doesn’t matter if this is about closing revenue, or looking at cars, it’s still data,” she says. “A lot of it is understanding, and logical problem solving.

“I have an ability to learn, and even though I have no background knowledge, I don’t have to get the level of knowledge that engineers do. It’s about knowing where your skill set lies, and understanding how you can add value.” 

So far, Nicola is enjoying the challenge and is starting to learn more and more about the industry. 

“When it comes to engineering, it’s more in depth and technical and I’ve really enjoyed that and being able to adapt our technology,” she says. “It’s amazing that we’ve got teams of people that can help us make things happen.” 

Nicola’s role in PU is relatively new but it’s a role she is enjoying with some diversity. 

“My role really has a range at the moment,” she says. “It’s talking to the various teams and trying to work out if the data is in the right place, making sure we’ve got everything we need. 

“It’s doing my own analysis, building models, unlocking answers, and enabling the engineers to be able to use the data.” 

By working on the PU for 2026, Nicola is proud to be contributing to such a big initiative and a brand-new team. 

“It’s interesting; everything feels super advanced, but it also feels like a start up,” she says. “We’re all sitting there thinking one day these engines are going to be running on track. When you think about it, it’s so exciting. And, I can’t believe I have a part in that.” 

With such high expectations and pressure, how does Nicola deal with the fast-pace? 

“I’ve had a similar experience working on Black Friday at ASOS,” she says. “We’ve got a good culture here, we’re learning, and that takes the pressure away.

“Even if something does go wrong, we learn from it but it’s motivating. People say how many weeks we’ve got left and when you put it into perspective, it’s so soon.” 

The data industry is fast-paced and exciting with so much opportunity. 

“It’s such a varied career to go into,” Nicola says. “You’ve got the opportunity to constantly learn because you’re constantly getting new technologies, and you can add value to any business function.”

In Nicola’s previous role, she worked with a large team of women, and currently is one of two women working in the Trackside Engineering department as a Power Unit Data Scientist. 

“It’s really motivating,” she says. “The environment we’re in and the fact that we’re in the factory every day; to be able to come into these rooms and see all the cars, reminds you of why you’re here and that’s so cool.” 

For Nicola, coming into this team as the under-represented gender was something she saw as an opportunity when applying for the role. 

“It’s an opportunity to come in and be like, girls deserve to be here too,” she says. “My boss is supportive of me sharing these messages and for us to keep pushing these; we need more women represented to bring more women in.

“I joined the job because I was interested in it, but a big part of my role here is to keep pushing for that representation in the industry, which is incredible to see.” 

For any woman, coming into a male-dominated industry, and changing industries, can be daunting, but Nicola is proof that it’s possible to overcome any doubts. 

“You can prove that you’re the right person and are valuable wherever you go,” she says. “You can pick your industry and stay there and become an expert but in data, as long as you have that skill, you have your expertise.

“In spreading your industries, it makes you really valuable - so fight the imposter syndrome.”