Clara Stiebleichinger goes from ski slopes to the F1 Academy Rookie Test with Audi
The former alpine ski racer drove for Audi at Navarra and set the tenth-fastest time of the afternoon, less than two years after her first car test
Two years ago Clara Stiebleichinger was an alpine ski racer. On 11 September 2026 she drove an Audi-liveried F1 Academy car at Circuito de Navarra and set the tenth-fastest time of the afternoon at the F1 Academy Rookie Test.
The 21-year-old Austrian represented the Audi Revolut F1 Team’s driver development programme at the test, in a car run by Rodin Motorsport. Her best lap of 1:48.054 came in the afternoon over 40 laps, after she was 14th in the morning with a 1:48.220. Victoria Farfus topped the day with a 1:46.988, according to the official F1 Academy report.
No karting, no sim racing, straight into a car
Stiebleichinger’s route into single-seaters is unusual. She raced skis professionally in Austria and had no karting or sim-racing background when she entered the Feed Racing shootout in France in 2024.
She first drove Formula 4 machinery at the start of 2025 and made her racing debut in the Indian F4 Championship later that year. She finished 11th of 21 drivers, with a best result of fourth, and was the highest-placed woman in the championship.
In 2026 she moved up to French F4. According to Audi’s announcement of the test, her best qualifying result this season is fourth, she is only the second woman to score points in the championship, and she is in the fight for its women’s title.
A training camp before the test
The Rookie Test, first held in 2025, came with something new this year: a Rookie Training Camp supported by Loughborough University, with physical and cognitive assessments, workshops and race preparation before the drivers went on track at Navarra. Formula 1 announced the expanded format earlier in the season.
Allan McNish, director of the Audi Driver Development Programme, said when the test was announced: “Clara has already shown her potential in the short time she has been racing.” Stiebleichinger thanked Audi and Rodin Motorsport and said her aim was to learn as much as possible and understand where she could improve. Rodin’s sporting director Benn Huntingford called supporting young drivers a core value of the team.
A step towards a possible F1 Academy seat
The Rookie Test is where F1 Academy looks at drivers who could join its grid in the following seasons. Being put forward by an F1 team’s development programme, in that team’s colours, is a clear sign of how Audi rates her after less than two years of racing. Whether it leads to an F1 Academy seat in 2027 is not yet known.
Follow the rest of the season on our F1 Academy page and in the F1 Academy standings 2026, and read more stories from our Through Her Eyes series on women in motorsport.
