Lucy Gould didn’t always think she would be a mechanic. In fact, just before university, she signed up for the musical theatre course. Now, at 20 years old, Gould is in her third year with Rodin Motorsport’s Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) Formula Two Team as a mechanic.
“Now that I’ve broken into this career and industry, I can’t see myself working in any other industry,” Gould said. “I’m stuck in motorsport for life now.”
It’s no secret that it’s difficult for a woman to secure a working spot in motorsport– but it’s even tougher to do it in as high a caliber as Formula 2, in as critical a position as a mechanic. The FIA is working to open the doors to women a little wider with things like Formula One Academy– a Formula Four-level championship featuring women-only teams– but the female population in motorsport remains slim.
“I know that a lot of people, a lot of women do struggle with breaking into motorsport purely because there is just not enough of us doing it,” Gould said.
“It was a career that I didn’t really think I could pursue to start with because I hadn’t seen anybody do it before, but obviously that’s completely false,” she said. “Anybody can; you don’t have to be a specific gender to do motorsport or mechanics.”
Gould no longer thinks of herself as the odd one out in the garage. Entering Rodin Motorsport for the first time was undoubtedly intimidating, but it turns out motorsport was as new an experience for her as working with a woman was for her newfound coworkers. All it took was some getting used to, some chatting, and of course, some good laughs.
“It really was the sort of thing where it literally just took maybe a week or so until I just settled in properly, and realized that I was being silly and there wasn’t anything to worry about,” Gould said.
“Everyone that I’ve worked with hasn’t treated me any differently,” Gould continued. “We all get along, we can all have a laugh, and because we spend so much time together, it is like one big family.”
So, how did Gould go from the performing stage to the pit lane?
Gould is no stranger to working with cars. With a grandfather who builds and races his own classic Alfa Romeo, she spent plenty of time in her younger years traversing the garage where she would help him work. But it wasn’t something she ever thought of as a career.
The interest was always there, but as a 16-year-old with the pressure of her school encouraging students to choose a career path, she landed on childcare and education. When that didn’t click, she tried musical theatre, but it still wasn’t her fit. Next up on the sampling platter was the National College for Motorsport in Silverstone.
“At the last moment, I was thinking, what do I actually want to do, what do I actually enjoy, what could I see myself being a part of? And that was motorsport,” Gould said. “I was looking around all sorts of different courses I can do, and saw one for mechanics, so I was like, that looks cool. I’ll give it a go.”
“I’ve properly fallen in love with it, so no regrets,” she added.
Countless trips to the track during her lunch breaks, chats with various teams and endless emails led Gould to Rodin Motorsport. Take it from her: all it takes is persistence and confidence.
“If you are passionate enough about it, and it is a career that you really want to pursue, just keep going until you get some answers from some teams,” Gould said.
After just three years in motorsport, Gould has jumped from F1 Academy mechanic up to Formula 2, just one step before the pinnacle of motorsport. A day in the life of a mechanic on race weekend sees them taking the cars apart before and after every session, making sure everything is clean and tidy, and ensuring they have all the tools, wheel guns and tyres together.
“The stakes are really high,” she said. “But the stakes are always high in motorsport. It’s really competitive, so it’s really important that everyone’s sort of on their A-game all the time.”
At the pit lane in Jeddah, Rodin Motorsport’s mechanics found it a bit tricky to work with the narrow pit lane. In Spa, a giant hill became the enemy in their quest to get all the equipment from the support pitlane to the F1 pitlane. Australia was a treat, however, where a 30-second drive took Gould and all the necessary pieces to their end spot.
“I love the travelling aspect,” Gould said of her career. “Even though we don’t get to see many places outside the circuit when we go to all these different countries, it’s still amazing to go and experience all these different countries, cultures and people.”
The ambition doesn’t end here for Lucy Gould — at some point in the future, she’s hoping to reach Formula One. But for now, she’s happy to see where life at Rodin Motorsport takes her.
“I love mechanics, but there are so many other pathways that I’d like to try in the future, so I’m just going to kind of take everything in and learn as much as I can and see where I go from there,” Gould said. “But I know it will definitely be in motorsport.”
