Yahoo Sports Lia Block Is On A Quest To Become The First Female American F1 Driver
The Miami Grand Prix is happening this weekend, and all eyes will be on driver Lia Block. The 17-year-old Williams F1 Academy driver has racked up a ton of wins so far, leaving people wondering if she can snag another one.
But Lia has big goals beyond “just” winning races: She also wants to become the first female American driver in F1. Lia’s got a solid base cheering her on, including a cool million Instagram followers.
But who is Lia Block and why is there so much attention on her right now? Here’s what you need to know.
Lia the daughter of the late racing legend Ken Block.
Lia’s dad is Ken Block, a professional rally driver with the Hoonigan Racing Division. He was also a co-founder of DC shoes. Ken died in a snowmobile accident in early 2023. He was “riding a snowmobile on a steep slope when the snowmobile upended, landing on top of him,” according to a sheriff’s report.
“I grew up, traveling around the world with my dad while he raced in WRC [World Rally Championship and the World Rally Cross Championship,” Lia told SB Nation.
She’s 17 years old, and has been karting since she was 11.
Lia got her start in racing early. She began racing carts at 11 years old and entered her first off-road racing series in the same year, according to her F1 biography.
At 13, she started drifting and began drag-racing the year after that.
Lia has already won a few rally championships.
Lia won the 2023 American Rally Association O2WD championship, making her the youngest American Rally Association champion in history, her bio says. She also won the Baja 1000 with her mom Lucy Block and the Block House Racing Team. Lia and the team took the title after a 34 hours of rally racing in Mexico.
She’s currently competing in the F1 Academy with the #57 Williams car.
Lia just joined the F1 Academy, which is a female-only single-seater racing championship founded by Formula One. She’s racing on the Williams team as #57.
“I always grew up watching F1 with my dad and just, it was something kind of unknown to me that I never really got to experience,” Lia told SB Nation. “So, when the opportunity came about, it’s just something I definitely couldn’t pass down, kind of like a lottery ticket. Just something I’ve always wanted to do but never had the opportunity.”
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