The history of motorsports is full of the children of the famous fathers who follow the footsteps of my father and try to make their own names.
Michael and Mick Schumacher. Del Irnhardt, Del Irnhardt Junior Bobby and Graham Rahal. Families Andretti and Sainz. Bill and Chis Elliot. The list goes on.
But motorsport is no longer just a man’s world.
One of the women who wear in races is the F1 Lia Block Academy driver. She is the 18 -year -old Kane Block’s daughter In the snow riding accident In January 2023.
Lea grew up in the fields and was naturally resuming towards a rough road race, and eventually became a champion in a rally and later won the Baja 1000 section with her mother Lucy and Block House racing team slightly more than a year ago. After it became successful in itself, the Williams Academy driver is now staring at its second full season in one weapon, and wants to struggle for the title of F1 Academy.
Block is grateful because her father and his reputation opened her doors to the motorsport world early in her career, but “it was really difficult” to move in her career as a “daughter”.
“I do not want people (to think) that I cheat my way because I have a leg. Block told a sports newspaper before the 2024 F1 Academy season:“ I have a leg in this sport because he was very famous, and he gave me opportunities to follow my career. ”But I am trying to stay away from it a little because I want to create my own personality and I want to be myself.
“I don’t want to know the name of his daughter. I have a name, which is sometimes difficult because I love to be his daughter and I will take it on anything on any day.”
Although Block’s early childhood was when her father competed in a different Rallycross championship, the first motor sport memory occurred in a race track in Florida.
Bought her Ken Electric Card for use in their corridor. “Only 20 miles will go,” says Block.
So, when I tried the first correct card at about six, it was in a surprise.
“I did not know that the faster you went, the more you have to turn. I entered this new cart, and it was much faster. Block says:“ I went to the first turn and went directly to the field, ”adding,“ My father held my head forever. It was just a funny experience. It was not the time when I really fell in love with motorsport. I was still trying everything else, but that made me realize, “Oh, I must work hard for this.”
I grew up, the gymnastics did before turning into competitive dance. These were constants in her life, even during the experience of other sport, including basketball, football, football, science, tennis and swimming. Block admits, “This is a kind of strange to say -” hey, I was a dancer that turned a race driver, but I think this is something I really loved. “
Both Block raced in a competitive manner. Kane got the platform in different competitions, including X Games, World Rallly Championship and World Rallycross. Lucy first appeared in 2009 and competed in the first full season of the American Rally Association in 2022.
Lia Block Racing in Miami in 2024 (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
But they have never forced her to enter into motorsport, although they were passionate about it. “My father has always gave me open doors and gave me the option to go and do sports,” she says.
At about ten o’clock, she returned to the race. “It was somewhat … on my own merit. I think that once I realized that I loved him a lot and tried all these things, I felt comfortable with myself and only knew,” Yes, I tried all this and this is the place where I really want to go. “
Block “Adrenaline addict”, which was self -described in the Lucas Oil Off Road series, which was a series of short cycle competing in the United States and Mexico, and in the end I went to Karting.
In 13, the erosion came more in the picture.
“My father wanted to teach me how to drive the stick. So I never learned how to drive the stick. I was only 12 or 13 years old, but he took me in accompanying Ford, and I learned how to lead the stick in that,” you remember Block. “It was like,” hey, do you want to learn how to drift? You want to learn how to do cakes? I was like, of course. “
They filmed a video on YouTube, which is nothing new for the family, as Ken has created the famous “Gymkhana” videos that are sometimes characterized by different works of the race, such as those he and his daughter.
“I looked back on that day, and I was like,” Wow, I was very embarrassing. “Block says:” I didn’t know how to talk to the camera. ” So the ability to learn how to do cakes and do this like my father was really great. “
She learned how to drift into other cars, but what she started in her career and brought her to the media was jumping to the famous Mustang “Hoonicorn” in Ken 1400 hp on 14.
“I don’t know who its idea was,” Block says, but it may be a bad idea.
Block followed in the footsteps of her parents in 2021 when she first appeared in a rally at the national level at the age of 15, and competed in the last round of the American Rally Rally Championship for the Honigan race.
After being tasted by the error, it gradually added more demonstrations before winning the open American Association (ARA O2WD) in 2023, and became the youngest ARA champion of the sixteen years of age. She was the first woman to compete in the E -Nitrocratic Group and also pushed Pikes Peak in her father’s father.
“This makes me feel that I have accomplished something,” says Block. “I think it certainly gives me a name. People can only say,” Why is it here? “I have done something, and I think you can carry it, regardless of where I go in the future, is really special.”
But Block Khater after winning that tournament.
Williams announced in November 2023 that it will compete at the F1 Academy with Art Grand Prix and join the F1 team academy. This happened in the same month, she would continue to win Baja 1000 with her mother. The two specialties are completely different. “You must close a kind of my mind for the gathering, switch in the other part of the open wheels,” Block said.
The F1 Academy celebrated the first Block Block seats. It was the first car that I tested from the Fourth Formula, which resembles those in the F1 Academy, but it faced a sharp educational curve. I moved from winning the gathering championship until you are at the bottom of a different series and learn “everything from scratch”.
She had three months to prepare for the opening race in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and remember the block of thinking at some point, “Will I be able to do this?”
It was a new car, all new tracks and people who did not compete in her career. Its goal is to be the P1, but with the fact that the year 2024 is an educational year, Block knew that winning the championship would not be possible. P7 qualified for her first race in the Jeddah Corniche circuit, which is something that she said: “I will take any day.”
She hurt her back pavilion while trying to pass to fifth place during the 1st race this week, although she is likely to be looked at it in the wake of this. Returning to the Block House headquarters in Utah, the shattered or damaged parts are displayed on the “care wall”. The above description says: “Seek to win at any cost, with zero mechanical sympathy or observance of the well -being of the individual.”
Its mechanics took this damaged back wing and signed. “Mechanic said that I could not either return the next time or return with the car to half. He said no more small accidents.” I brought that piece home from Saudi Arabia to add it to the wall.
Looking at the MotorsPorts profession in Block so far, the shift to the single race raises some eyebrows. But as Lucy explains, this change is logical for her daughter now.
She had a lot of calls for different types of driving. But at this stage of her career, she really wants to focus on F1. ” AthleteJeff Glock last spring.
“It is something you must enter at a younger age. She can gather when you are 30 years old. You can’t do F1 when you are 30 years old. She knows it, and you don’t want to look back for 10 years and say:” O man, I wish I was going to do it. “
Fast forward for nearly a year, a mass on the takbeer call with AthleteAnd connecting a Rockstar power hat while it is at home in Utah. It is still itself in Shampania, and it is a balance between questions about the importance of this new partnership and how it is ready to fight for the title of 2025 F1 Academy. But the biggest difference is the feeling of calm confidence.
Block says that the qualification in Singapore in the past fall was “the big waking moment.” She got the best qualified place in the season after the last moment she promoted to fourth. She says: “It was when the hard work began to bear fruit, which is difficult when you work hard behind the scenes and do a lot and try to learn a lot, but you do not see that much on the right track, and they do not see that.
“But in a qualified Singapore, I really felt that I was doing something right. I felt that I could be there, and I deserved this place.”
Singapore was a penetration of the LIA in 2024 (Joe Portlock/Getty Images)
Block 24 scored points combined this week after the end of the fourth in a row, and its largest points in the seven -round season. It ended the eighth year with 44 points and is now facing its second and final season at the F1 Academy.
This season was presented for the first time a huge educational curve for the blocks, as it moved from winning the Ara O2WD to jump to one maak for the first time. She had higher expectations for herself to 2024 because, of course, she wanted to win. But Block has reconsidered these expectations about the weekend in Miami GP in May, and she and Williams talked about how “she is just an educational year.”
One of the biggest lessons you learned is patience.
“You have to take these small and marginal gains as really great achievements, because if you continue to build these gains, you will continue to climb to the ladder,” Block. “Mentally, just a retreat, you can just control what you can control. Everything happens for some reason, and a kind of just going with a flow.”
The 2025 season represents new challenges, as more than half of the network changes last year and four of the seven drivers who ranked over its last season competition in the championship. The goal is to become more comfortable with her car, as well as improving work with her engineer and extracting the maximum performance of the car in every weekend in the race.
Block is keen to learn more about the mechanical side of sport and diving deeper into the Formula One world.
“F1 Academy is the big focus this year. Block says:” I want great victories, and I want to go to that tournament, so it is definitely the main focus axis. “But I look forward to doing some gatherings on the side between them, where we can suit them.”
This is where Rockstar Energy comes to her, the new sponsor. It is not a secret that the car sport is expensive, and Block says while her father’s profession opened the door to her, “I am now extensive, and I have to pay everything now.”
“I don’t think people know how costly it is. Block explains:” Only when you get to F1 is when you get their salaries, “Block,” at a later time, “Rockstar, they support me in everything I want to do. They are here for me. Let’s go gathering this year. Let’s go to some big projects as well as the F1 My dreams.
The next Block step will be determined in its motorcycle career based on how this season is evolving. The F1 Academy only allows drivers to compete for two seasons, and you will need to show constant growth. But the assembly is still a large part of its life, a door that she has not completely closed.
“I still really love gathering, rugged ways, gathering, and such things,” says Block. “But I also fell in love with the Formula and F1 series. I think we just have to see.”
(Supreme Image: Joe Portclook – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getti Emiez)
