Just a few weeks ago, Chloe Chong spoke with Nicole on the Fast Forward Podcast, about her career in motorsport—past, present, and its future. From leaving F1 Academy for British F4, to returning for her final season, Chong spoke on the differences, and the improvement she’s recognised within herself.
Chong’s experience in British F4
Following her debut season in F1 Academy in 2023, Chloe Chong made the jump over to British F4. In comparison to F1 Academy, this was an incredibly difference experience. In British F4, Chong learnt a lot of important lessons. Nearly every weekend of the season saw wet weather of some sort. This forced her to learn to adapt to a wet track. This changed how she drives, and how she adapts to a situation.
Prior to British F4, Chong had never driven in the wet. At the start of her campaign, she would end sessions six second down on her teammates. By the end, she was half a second off of the fastest driver on track. She was forced to learn, and learn quickly.
“British F4 was a hell of an experience. I think very different to what I experienced in 2023. And a lot of learning things, like I think almost every race weekend was wet in some sort of way. Like some important session in the race weekend was wet. So it made me learn a lot about adapting to those conditions quite quickly and changing how I drive to, to fit into that situation.
“And also I’d never driven in the wet before. So there’s a lot of learning from going like six seconds down on my teammates to being within half, half a second of the fastest driver on track. So we learned very quickly. Um, but there was just a lot of playing catch up.”
The difference between the two categories
When comparing the difference between the machinery in British F4 to F1 Academy, they are simply incomparable. They are two completely different cars. Chong went into depth regarding the feeling you get from each car. She explained that while the way in which you drive them isn’t necessarily different, the feeling you get is. The level of grip is different and requires adaptation.
These differences created a unique challenge for Chong, especially considering she only had experience in an F1 Academy car. Despite the lack on monetary resources, she cracked the top ten at the end of the season. This was all without rebuilding her engine.
“And also, I mean, anyone that’s driven British F4 and driven F1 Academy will tell you that they’re two completely different cars. Um, and the way that you get the feeling from the cars, I wouldn’t say the way that you drive them, but the way that you get the feeling from the cars and the feeling of grip is a very different feeling and you have to adapt your expectations to that feeling.
“So that took me a while having not driven anything except the F1 Academy car before. But yeah, it was, it was a really fun experience. And I mean, considering we were lacking some resources monetarily to keep the engine tuned up and rebuilt throughout the season. I think we ended the season on a high being within the top 10 without getting engine rebuild at all that year.“
Overall, performance was a positive in her eyes. Although the results don’t look so strong on paper, it is more about what is happening behind the scenes. Her season in British F4 was development rather than searching for pure results.
“So I was quite happy with the performance, although it doesn’t look like it on the results sheet. Um, I think with most sports that there’s so many behind the scenes, things going on. And for me, it was all about the development. It wasn’t about pure results.”
F1 Academy after British F4
F1 Academy sees results in the same light as Chong. This means not only looking at results on paper, but the work and results behind the scenes. Due to this, after following her journey through British F4, Wolff and Biscaye were wanting Chong back into F1 Academy. She remains incredibly grateful to have been welcomed back.
“Yeah. And I think that’s one thing that’s really great about F1 Academy is they see it in that similar light. Um, we had the talk with Delphine [Biscaye] and Susie [Wolff]. I think it was broadcast on social media. But you know, they’d honestly been monitoring my success. Not just by results, but by the way that I’ve adapted my driving and they’ve given me this chance to be back in F1 Academy again. And I’m very grateful for that.”
Potential at the start of the season
The first F1 Academy test of the year in Shanghai saw incredible results for Rodin Motorsport. While this gave herself and the team a nudge of hope, she is realistically aware that things may change on a race weekend. This is exactly what happened. The team found a few issues that still needing addressing, and this limited Chong and Rodin’s success.
Overall, Chong’s Rodin machinery has great raw pace. She admits to feeling like an incredibly different, and more improved driver than she was in her debut season.
“And I mean, going into the first test of the year, proper test in Shanghai. We put the cars on one, two and five. Um, and it was all going very well. Of course, when you get to the race season and you learn how to drive with the F1 grip on the track, it’s a bit different. And as a team, we had some, some things to iron out and we still ironing out some stuff that is limiting our success. But overall on raw pace, um, I think the team’s very much there and I feel like 10 times the driver that I was when I probably last talked to you.”
The difference in F1 Academy since its debut season
Chloe Chong was part of F1 Academy’s debut season, taking part with Prema Racing. Since that first season, Chong, as well as many others, have agreed that the series has changed drastically. While Chong’s first season did not see much coverage, F1 Academy is now part of the F1 TV package.
With this package comes added eyes and exposure, adding both pressure and reward. Chong notes that one silly mistake is seen by many, and along with that will come criticism. Although, one of the biggest key changes comes in her preparation for the season. Her 2023 season debut was announced with a mere two weeks to prepare.
“To be honest, everyone I’ve talked to, and I agree, says that it’s completely different. Firstly we’ve got the F1 coverage. So it’s on the F1 weekend, F1 package on F1 TV. So there’s a lot of eyeballs there. A lot more expectations and a lot more eyeballs there. If you make one mistake, silly mistake, let’s say. You’ve also got the way that I would say that I approached the season, obviously with my first year, I had not basically had two weeks to prepare to race.”
New set of expectations
This has created different expectations, both from herself, and everyone else. This season, Chong can feel that she has the pace to win. When everything goes to plan, everything flows well, showing her this is a possibility. Although they haven’t managed to completed the charge for the win, they have caught glimpses of this—an example being her pole position in Canada.
“So I guess the expectations are different. This year, you know, I feel like the pace is there to win races when everything is going all right, when everything is working and everything’s in a flow. We haven’t really managed to do that this season so far, but there has been glimpses of it. And I think on the whole, we’ve been just a bit unlucky with the team and we hope to get that iron out, um, before Montreal, before Zandvoort hopefully.”
Finding what worked for Pulling
A key factor for Chong is her off-track preparation and development. One of the key factors the team found to have benefitted the 2024 Champion, Abbi Pulling, is racing a double campaign. Due to this, Chong has decided to do the same. On top of this, meetings with sponsors and people with potential to assist her with funding prove crucial also.
“It’s a lot of off-track things. Of course, the main thing I think that we found Abbi [Pulling] had last year that gave her an advantage over competitors was being able to race the double campaign in British F4 and in F1 Academy. So a lot of the off-track stuff is about having those right meetings with sponsors and trying to find the funding to do as much as we can off of the F1 Academy season.“
Taking the challenge of British F4
The Brit managed to enter the British F4 weekend in Snetterton in May, and had a rather positive weekend. Overall she ended as the leading female, despite going into the weekend without any testing or practice starts. Though she lost places off of each start, she always manage to make them back, and ended up securing points.
“So thankfully we’ve managed to do the race weekend at Snetterton [in May] in British [F4] and it went really, really well, you know, being top of the females without any testing, no practice starts at all. So I did lose, I’d say a good four or five positions on every start. I still gained places in the race and finished on top of the females, I’d say overall on the weekend and scored points.“
This goes to show that when luck is on Chong’s side, and nothing goes wrong for her and the team, results follow. This has proved that overall the driving isn’t the issue, rather the unforeseen issues that appear.
“So it shows that when we have everything right and nothing’s faulty or nothing’s playing up, we can get the job done. It’s not like it’s not too much about the driving and we can focus a lot on just optimising everything.”
The eyes are on F1 Academy
With the bigger stage being set for F1 Academy since its debut, many more eyes have appeared. While Chong doesn’t feel any added pressure on a race weekend due to this, she acknowledges the expectations. The expectations to perform have an affect on her career—this is where the pressure lies.
If a driver in any caliber doesn’t perform, they don’t get a seat. With that being said, Chong notes that F1 Academy holds a lot more scrutiny than the male led catergories. The opinions on F1 Academy in comparison to FRECA or F4 seem to be far more negative, and blown out of proportion.
“I wouldn’t say that I feel any pressure during the race weekend. Of course there’s expectations and there is a surrounding pressure of your career. If you’re not performing then you’re not going to get a seat or a drive. But I think there is a lot of scrutiny over F1 Academy, unlike let’s say the male counterparts here, it’s like F4 Championships or FRECA and I think there’s a lot of negative opinions which I think are just blown out a lot more because it’s not viewed on the F1 package.“
Unnecessary scrutiny for F1 Academy
Chong expressed the disappointing comments left on social media whenever there is a crash or safety car in F1 Academy. Moreso, the lack of these comments in the male-dominated categories. Chong describes some of these races to be spent under the safety car for most of the race. This isn’t considered by viewers leaving nasty comments to F1 Academy.
“For instance, some of the races you see, some of the comments you see on social media is like oh half the race is behind safety car, oh look at all these drivers crashing. But then you watch any F4 race or any junior series race, and they have equally bad outcomes and equally amount of laps behind safety cars.“
Chong describes this uneccesarry scrutiny as unfair, and acknowledges that it is simply amplified because they are females. Due to this, people find any way they can to further scrutinise them.
“So I think it’s very unfair the scrutiny that we receive just because we’re females and that people are trying to find a way to kind of… criticise and throw off the, I guess throw off the work that we’ve been doing to achieve what we’ve gotten so far.”
Chong is here to race, not make friends
Like every other driver on the grid would presumably believe, Chong also isn’t here to make friends. As racing drivers, the number one priority is just that—racing, and racing well. If racing means losing a fiend, Chong is open to that. At the end of the day, the Brit is here to make a name and a career for herself.
“I think if you ask anyone on the grid, we’re not here to make friends. We’re here to race and if that means you lose a friend over it, fine, because it’s our career and it’s all about at the end of the day what we do as drivers.”
Finding a perfect balance of support
One of the key aspects helping Chong this year is the support network she has. In order to keep costs down as much as possible, her family hasn’t been travelling with her for the most part. This also leaves her the funds to have a couple more test days.
Ignoring the financial aspect of it, Chong has found herself to perform better without her family there. She acknowledges the affect having the right people around has on her weekend. This includes how she takes the highs and lows of a race weekend, as well as how she fights back.
“I’d say one thing that’s really, really helped me this year is the people around me. My support team, people there just for me. I haven’t been able to travel with my family to most of the races and that helps keep the cost down as well and helps me get maybe one or two more test days in the car as well.
“But also because I find that I perform better when I don’t have my family there and I think it’s just those small things that you start to figure out, you start to realise that having the right people around you can affect the whole vibe of the weekend, can affect the way that you see the weekend, the way that you perceive your mistakes and the way that you fight back from it all.“
The right team is crucial
In extension to friends and family as support, Chong emphasises the importance of having the right engineer or mechanic. It is crucial they support their driver, and that the driver can trust them. Race managers add further to this. Having the right people in her corner to push and support her has helped her greatly, showing her the improvement on this season to last.
“Having the right engineer, having the right mechanic who supports you and you know that you trust and having the right even driver manager and just people that you know what you’re in your corner and are always pushing to be better has really helped me, especially going from the end of last season to this season, it’s made all the difference.”
Goals for her future
Like many racing drivers, Chloe Chong aims to have a professional career in the sport. That and only that, is her goal. While higher categories are known to come with high salaries, Chong can appreciate the hurdles you have to jump through, and the amount of considerations that have to work in your favour, in order to reach the pinnacle.
“I am aiming to have a professional career in the sport. That’s my only goal. I appreciate, you know, as I said with F1, there’s a lot of money involved and a lot of things that have to go right for you as well.“
Since the Brit was a child, she has dreamed to become a professional racing driver. The category isn’t something that is crucial to her dream—she simply needs a professional seat. The goal is to drive fast in some form of car.
All she strives for as she grows older, is to feel successful, and be able to support both herself and her family. While this is still a while away, she doesn’t want to end her career without getting something out of it. She is always thinking about her future, and how she can support herself.
“For me, my dream from a child is to always become a professional racing driver. Whether it’s in IndyCar, whether it’s endurance, it’s that thrill of being in the seat and being able to drive round tracks in fast cars.
“And that’s the only thing that I dream of when I’m older is to be able to do that and feel successful and again, support myself, support my family when it comes around to that time. I mean, it’s a while away, but you don’t want to just do something and not have anything out of it. You know, I’ve got to think about the future and how I can support myself.”
