“We have our place now in motorsport” - Mathilda Paatz on F1 Academy, Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team™, and inspiring the next generation
- Jasmine El Samad
- 8 hours ago
- 6 min read
From ski racer to F1 Academy driver for Aston Martin Aramco Formula One™ Team, Mathilda Paatz is carving out her place on track. She sits down with Females in Motorsport ahead of her Silverstone test to take us through her journey, goals, and how hard work - evidently - pays off.
Mathilda Paatz has racing in her DNA.
From a very young age, she was trackside, supporting her father, Michael Paatz, as he competed in endurance racing. Born and raised in Cologne, Germany, Mathilda watched her father race at the Nürburging's Nordschleife before pursuing her own passion for racing.
“Since I was a little kid, I’ve always been at a racetrack supporting my dad,” she tells Females in Motorsport. “Now, it's the opposite. Now he's supporting me, which is pretty cool.”
Mathilda made her F1 Academy debut in Round 4 of the 2025 season, entering as the wild card for Montreal with Gatorade and Hitech TGR. This season, at just 17 years old, she’s representing Aston Martin Aramco Formula One™ Team with PREMA Racing, behind the wheel for the full season. She was selected by Aston Martin Aramco after undergoing a four-driver evaluation programme, coming out the other side to claim the F1 Academy seat, as well as a place in the team’s Driver Academy. In her own words, the team already feels like home.
“It's been quite a long journey, but speaking with Aston Martin, I just felt the most at home, I felt the most comfortable around them,” she says. “They took very good care of me, and the way they showed me motorsport in a completely different way just fascinated me even more. I felt like this is the right team.
“Since then, they’ve been helping me to develop myself, not only as a driver, but with media, mentally and physically, and that's been pretty awesome. We're just at the beginning of the journey, so I can't wait for more to come.”
In 2019, the age of 10, Mathilda’s journey into single-seater racing began when she competed in the ADAC Kart Cup. She went on to compete in a series of ADAC Kart Masters races between 2020 and 2022, in which she finished third overall in the standings. Across 2023, she raced in the FIA Karting World Championship, as well as the WSK Super Master Series.
“I've been a ski racer before, so it was not always one hundred percent that I would be a racing driver,” Mathilda says. “But about five years ago, I decided I wanted to fully commit to motorsport, and since then I've been growing through karting nationally, then internationally, and then stepping up into single seaters.”
The F1 Academy season kicked off at the Shanghai International Circuit earlier this year, iconic for its high intensity, long back straight, and the technical performance it demands. In a nutshell, it serves perfectly as the season opener for a series committed to advancing its drivers. Mathilda placed 14th in the reverse grid race and 11th in the feature race, putting in a solid performance across the weekend and placing highly amongst the rookie drivers.
“In Shanghai, it was just very unique,” she says. “Everything was pretty new to me with the team, with Aston Martin, and just getting in the flow but it was pretty good. It's been a really interesting track, pretty fun to drive. We have a long back straight, so it was a great time to do some overtakes.
"It's just awesome with F1 Academy, with the fans around, working with an F1 team and having all that support. It's pretty unique and fantastic - not like any other series. It's really nice and I enjoy it a lot.”
For Mathilda, a highlight of joining Aston Martin Aramco has been forging a close working relationship with Jessica Hawkins, a staple of the team’s Driver Squad. Jessica became a front-runner in W Series, and has now turned her attention to GT racing, with the goal of racing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Jessica joins Mathilda trackside as a mentor, not just for racing, but for everything else that comes with it too.
“Me and Jessica, we get along very well,” she says. “She's always by my side and she's there anytime for advice, which is very helpful - not only on the driving side, but also if I need some help, for everything.
“She's like a friend and mentor and that's been really great.”
Ahead of F1 Academy’s return for Round 2 at the Canadian Grand Prix, Mathilda will be completing a test at Silverstone Circuit, a stones’ throw away from Aston Martin Aramco’s state of the art Technology Campus. It was announced that F1 Academy would race alongside F1 at the British Grand Prix later this season, and Mathilda will be looking to familiarise herself with the classic circuit ahead of the race weekend.
Testing is gold for racing drivers as track time can be extremely limited outside of race weekends. F1 Academy has been making strides in providing more accessibility to testing with the help of the teams.
“I'm excited for Silverstone; I think it's a pretty cool track and did loads of simulator work with PREMA, just trying the best to prepare, but it's very helpful that we have testing before the race, so we really can get to know the track,” Mathilda says.
“Track time is always very important. It's what makes the difference between the drivers; the more track time you get, the better you are. I think it's very good that F1 Academy gives us the opportunity to test so we can get more comfortable with the car, with the series, working with the new teams.”
Testing allows for opportunities to push the boundaries and refine driving technique and style. Mathilda leans into a "strong but fair” driving style, and prides herself in being calm without compromising on hard, clean racing. To get herself in the zone before jumping in the car, she prioritises music, stretching and exchanging encouraging words with her team. Once she’s strapped in, it’s all about visualisation and keeping calm before she hits the track.
Alongside F1 Academy, the German driver also competes in the F4 CEZ Championship, racing for her father’s team which is - fittingly - named Mathilda Racing. The series kicked off recently, with Mathilda finishing twice in the top 10. Fellow F1 Academy rookie Jade Jacquet also competes in the series as her team-mate, as the race team works to champion female talent.
Off-track, Mathilda has worked closely with Aston Martin Aramco partner ELEMIS, a leading luxury skin care brand in the UK. ELEMIS’s partnership with the team is a powerful one, serving as one of the very few beauty and lifestyle brands in the sport. The partnership is a clear indicator that motorsport is changing as it acknowledges and caters for the female gaze, and a more diverse fanbase than ever before.
“It's been great to work with ELEMIS,” she says. “I've met the whole team and gotten to know them. I got to try the products and it's been really great to have a skincare brand supporting me.”
“It’s something I do every day. It's something to take care of myself and the products are really great - I feel super comfortable with them. It's really nice to have them supporting us, and especially pushing women in motorsport.”
The growing prominence of women drivers also comes with the pressures of being on the world stage, and of being a role model for the next generation. Mathilda has embraced this role already, noting just how important camaraderie is across the grid and beyond.
“It's always been me who looked up to the others, and now having little girls looking up to me is something that encouraged me even more to prove to them and to prove to myself that we can do it, that we have our place now in motorsport,” Mathilda says.
“We have a new karting driver [Ava Lawrence] in our academy and I've gotten to talk to her; you can just see the way the eyes light up when they get to talk to you and talk about stuff they didn't know yet, and it just feels pretty awesome to give my experience to them.”
As far as advice goes, Mathilda encourages other women beginning their motorsport journey to focus on three core principles: perseverance, dedication and self-belief.
“Take the ups and downs, don't let yourself get dragged down,” she says. “I know it's hard sometimes, but it happens. Without believing in myself, I wouldn't be where I am now. Even when it gets hard sometimes, keep going, keep pushing.
“Sometimes, there's no motivation, but you do it anyway, and in the end it pays off.”