Inspirational, Interview, Women In Motorsport

Katy Fairman: “Anyone you can see who has a clear passion, knows what they’re talking about and is respectful I can find inspiration from.”

Katy is an editor at the popular WTF1 blog, which amasses 12 million readers every month. The blog even has former F1 drivers as its viewers, such as Damon Hill, winner of the 1996 World Championship, and one time race-winner Pastor Maldonado. Katy’s favourite part of working for WTF1 is “Engaging with other like-minded fans. WTF1 fans are so loyal and passionate and I love that about them. They’re also from so many backgrounds and have so many stories and ideas about the sport which is so refreshing and creative.”

“In my actual job, I love that I can write up the fun and entertaining side of the F1 compared to all the serious stuff I have done before!”

As well as WTF1, Katy has also written for news outlets such as the BBCAutosport and Motorsport.com in her career.

Katy is also the founder of her blog, katyfairman.com, which she has been running since 2013. She decided to start her blog during the summer holidays. Her friend had recently started a blog about make up, and Katy was inspired and chose to start her own blog about what she loved, Formula 1. She says, “The rest is history!”

Source: Katy Fairman

She mainly covered Formula 1 for the first few years of its publication before discovering the Formula E series. Katy told me that what drew her to Formula E was that, “It was a new series and being electric really interested me. There didn’t seem to be many people covering it, and I took advantage of that, getting involved at the early stages and grew alongside the series.”

Katy has had the opportunity of interviewing then-GP2 driver Pierre Gasly for her blog. She has also spoken to past and present Formula E drivers such as Nelson Piquet JrMitch EvansSam Bird, and Pascal Wehrlein. Katy has experimented with different mediums for her journalism, such as YouTube and a podcast called Small Torque

Another of Katy’s projects is as editor and co-founder of Inside Electric. This is a blog based on electric series in motorsports such as Extreme E and Formula E. 

When I asked Katy who her female role models in motorsport were, she replied that some were “Ruth Buscombe, Natalie Pinkham, Lou Johnson, Rebecca Banks, Hazel Southwell, Rachel Brooks, and Susie Wolff.” However, Katy believes that “Anyone you can see who has a clear passion, knows what they’re talking about and is respectful I can find inspiration from.”

Katy’s advice to young women who would like to work in motorsport is, “Always keep learning, have fun and remember why you started!”

Thank you to Katy for the opportunity to interview her! 🙂

Follow Katy on Instagram: @katywtf1

Follow Katy on Twitter: @katyfairman

Originally published on: April 10 2021

Cover Image Credit: Katy Fairman