Latest / Rusty's Garage / The Motorsport Brief | F1 Academy Star Joanne Ciconte

Transcript

The Motorsport Brief | F1 Academy Star Joanne Ciconte · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:04
  Welcome to the Motorsport Brief with an Aussie teenager chasing a big dream on the world stage.
• 0:13
  G'day everybody, Rusty here.
• 0:14
  Earlier in the season we had Ava and Agnostiades on the shortcast during a gap in the F1 Academy schedule.
• 0:21
  The final round is coming up in Las Vegas, so we thought we'd get the other Aussie in the field in for a chat to Joanne Cicconti in just a moment.
• 0:29
  Quick mention about a couple of recent eps that dropped.
• 0:32
  There is a Gary Rogers tribute that runs nearly two hours.
• 0:36
  Thank you to everybody that we asked to come on and share some stories and anecdotes about their time with Gary.
• 0:42
  The moment we put that idea forward, they...
• 0:45
  all said we're in.
• 0:47
  From Lee Holdsworth talking about a two-page handwritten contract that was faxed to him from GRM, James Golding sharing a moment where he caught up with Gary shortly before his passing.
• 0:58
  That's a very special memory for James.
• 1:00
  And Garth Tander basically saying he was done, out of options after Formula Ford until Gary gave him a go.
• 1:08
  There are 12 or so guests in there, and that's our little way of keeping the memory of a great man burning bright.
• 1:14
  Hope you enjoy it.
• 1:15
  There's also a catch up with Shane Van Gisbergen as he neared the end of the NASCAR season, which has just wrapped up.
• 1:21
  His thoughts on Bathurst.
• 1:22
  We put lots of your questions to him as well.
• 1:24
  Shane was in fantastic form.
• 1:26
  That is a great chat.
• 1:29
  Noted historian, author and commentator John Smales is in there with a feature episode, a two-parter as well.
• 1:36
  And so is, on the two-wheel side, Peter Doyle, the boss of Motorcycling Australia.
• 1:41
  He's had a very successful career as a team boss in the United States and in world superbikes, too.
• 1:47
  In recent weeks, Joanne Cicconti dropped into our Melbourne studio.
• 1:51
  She was home briefly to see family and for corporate activity with her sponsors.
• 1:56
  It's been a huge mission for the team.
• 1:59
  leaving Australia for lengthy periods away from family during the year to kind of learn the ropes and make the right impression ultimately for an international career at the very highest level.
• 2:11
  The F1 Academy with Susie Wolfe in the driver's seat is doing some great things, as you'll hear.
• 2:17
  Joanne is making the most of the opportunity and already inspiring others too.
• 2:24
  Hello Joanne Chikonti, how are you?
• 2:25
  I'm good, how are you?
• 2:26
  It was great to meet you and to chat with you in Singapore and I'm pleased that we've been able to put this together.
• 2:32
  Where did the love of motor racing all come from for you?
• 2:37
  It's funny you say that.
• 2:38
  It came from, I think, inherited by my dad.
• 2:41
  So he was a motorsport enthusiast like my family, but he did a little bit of go-karting himself.
• 2:49
  Nothing more than a passion.
• 2:50
  And then he had a family and I have a younger brother, two years younger.
• 2:54
  And he got my brother into go-karting.
• 2:56
  And I was always a sporty person when I was younger.
• 2:59
  Like what?
• 2:59
  Like what are we talking?
• 3:00
  Like swimming, basketball, tennis, you know.
• 3:04
  So competitive.
• 3:05
  You're a competitive player?
• 3:05
  Okay.
• 3:06
  I mean, I just like to keep active, you know.
• 3:08
  So, and then seeing my brother do like go-karting was something new and it was so exciting in the family.
• 3:14
  And it's not like an everyday sport you can do in your backyard.
• 3:18
  So it was really intriguing and it was fun for me to watch and seeing him enjoy it so much.
• 3:23
  So does dad go, would you like to have a drive at Oakley or Todd Road or something?
• 3:28
  Where did you get your first taste of it?
• 3:31
  It was at Oakley.
• 3:32
  So it was a bit interesting because I had to convince my way there because he wouldn't really let me have a drive.
• 3:38
  I feel like he didn't have any females to kind of reference from.
• 3:42
  There was no girls mechanicing or anything.
• 3:44
  So for him...
• 3:46
  he thought I just naturally wouldn't enjoy it.
• 3:47
  And that's not a, because our world has changed so much, the way we embrace that, which is great.
• 3:52
  And that's not a criticism of dad.
• 3:55
  It's probably just how things... No, 100%.
• 3:57
  And I would imagine there was probably quite great pride for him too when you... Yeah, 100% because I just, I fell in love with it completely and I wanted to pursue it, continue it.
• 4:07
  And my brother lost interest and he kind of came to me saying, would you like to continue racing?
• 4:12
  Wow.
• 4:13
  And I said, yeah, of course.
• 4:14
  Yeah.
• 4:15
  I kept racing and, you know, I think for him it was more like a power move to have this one girl like in a field of 50 boys and kicking it out there.
• 4:24
  I think for him it was like really good.
• 4:27
  The CV shows, you know, success at state championship level and more, right?
• 4:32
  But from sort of age – are we talking age nine to onwards?
• 4:36
  When did it first really sort of launch for you?
• 4:39
  Oh, my brother was seven.
• 4:40
  I was about nine years old.
• 4:42
  Okay.
• 4:43
  Yeah.
• 4:43
  And did you feel like –
• 4:45
  It was a duck to water.
• 4:47
  Did it come easily?
• 4:49
  What reaction did you have?
• 4:51
  It's hard to kind of sit here and remember, but I just remember just falling in love with it completely, like experiencing speeds like that at nine years old and the vibration of the cart going through your body is just like a new level of adrenaline, and I completely loved it.
• 5:08
  It was so like...
• 5:09
  I wanted more.
• 5:10
  Excellent.
• 5:11
  But yeah, it was a phenomenal feeling back then.
• 5:15
  The path to where you are now, I mean, you're still only in your mid-teens, which is crazy for me.
• 5:20
  I love the fact that you're on the world stage now.
• 5:23
  There is a whole heap of learnings in that, which will come to...
• 5:27
  How did the notion of going from karting to F1 Academy come about?
• 5:32
  And you are, I think, correct me if I'm wrong here, you are the youngest in 2025 in the lineup, aren't you?
• 5:37
  Yeah.
• 5:39
  It came up quite conveniently because I participated in the 2023 Girls on Track Ferrari Driver Academy thing.
• 5:48
  Yeah.
• 5:49
  Giancarlo Fisichella was there.
• 5:50
  Yeah, exactly.
• 5:50
  You were in Italy for this, weren't you?
• 5:51
  Yeah, but it's funny how it came about because I participated for the Ferrari thing and I had to do my own preparation.
• 6:01
  So I did some sim work over in Italy and the trainer at the sim, he sort of said, because he knew I have no experience at all, he said, if this doesn't work out for you, I'm going
• 6:13
  I have a management team, John-Kyle Fisher-Keller and Marco Cioci that run it.
• 6:18
  He said, you know, check out these guys.
• 6:20
  I'm sure they would like to support your journey if things don't work out.
• 6:25
  And unfortunately, it didn't work out, but I feel like plan B was almost better than plan A. Wow.
• 6:30
  So how did they help?
• 6:31
  You know, we kind of discussed with them about management and they gave me opportunities like participating in the Czech championship, the Spanish, and that was a huge milestone in my development as a driver.
• 6:45
  Okay.
• 6:46
  So Formula 4 is the first proper single seater out of karts and stuff and did – how eye-opening was that?
• 6:53
  How exciting was that?
• 6:54
  Where were you and so on?
• 6:55
  Yeah, I was in Italy when I first drove a Formula 4 car and I just came out of karts and I thought I was driving a go-kart for the challenge, for the girls on track challenge.
• 7:06
  And I didn't have any idea I was going to be in a Formula 4 and it was so like a little bit scary to see this huge machinery and knowing that I was going to drive and it was with Premar.
• 7:16
  But mega at the same time.
• 7:18
  Mega team.
• 7:18
  100%.
• 7:19
  I was so excited to get on track and drive.
• 7:22
  And when I drove it, it was the suspension, the steering, just everything was so completely different.
• 7:29
  But it was like, oh my gosh, I need to do this more, more, more.
• 7:33
  That's all I could ask for.
• 7:34
  I was talking to a colleague who has worked with me here at the podcast studios from time to time on some automotive stuff, Nadine Armstrong, who is at Motorsport Australia now.
• 7:43
  She's a great operator.
• 7:45
  And she said to me, you know, did you ever contemplate a plan B or have you only ever been like all in for motor racing?
• 7:51
  Did you think, oh, maybe I'll go and, I don't know, pursue an IT career or something?
• 7:56
  Was there ever a plan B?
• 7:57
  For me, no.
• 7:58
  I always just seen that motorsport is my passion and it's almost become my whole life.
• 8:05
  I've always had to miss out on weekends, birthdays.
• 8:08
  I don't see my family as much anymore because I've moved most of my life overseas.
• 8:14
  So for me, it's what my life revolves around and my goal is to be in Formula One one day.
• 8:20
  So I'm trying to give everything I can to achieve that goal.
• 8:23
  Great stuff.
• 8:24
  So do you kind of come, you're here in Australia now, which is great.
• 8:28
  We can talk to each other face to face before you ultimately go to Las Vegas for the final round and so on.
• 8:33
  When you're in Europe, where are you basing yourself?
• 8:36
  Are you good with other languages?
• 8:38
  How are you going with all that stuff?
• 8:39
  Um, I'm mostly like all around the world, to be honest.
• 8:42
  There was a period where I'm traveling every four days, which was absolutely crazy.
• 8:46
  And I think where I do most of my training, if I do train, if I have that chance is in Italy, ideally, but I do like a lot of stuff with MP, which is, um, in Netherlands.
• 8:56
  Okay.
• 8:57
  But I am half Italian, so I can understand Italian, but.
• 9:00
  Give me a little bit.
• 9:01
  Give me a little bit.
• 9:02
  You can't.
• 9:02
  When I'm in pressure, I get scared.
• 9:06
  And I got like, if someone speaks really fast to me, as most Italians do, you know, I kind of just sit there and I'm like, oh, Cece.
• 9:13
  But, you know, what's great is they use their hands.
• 9:16
  So then it helps me understand it more.
• 9:18
  Figure it out.
• 9:18
  You know, they could be angry about something and they're very like...
• 9:21
  open with their hands about it.
• 9:23
  So I'm like, okay, I can understand where he's coming from.
• 9:25
  That's an asset.
• 9:25
  That's an asset.
• 9:26
  That's a huge thing in your back pocket.
• 9:29
  The difficulties in getting to this point, because now we're talking kind of serious money.
• 9:32
  I mean, even in karting, it can be expensive at times.
• 9:35
  So you lovely folks who are here, you know, no doubt there's been a lot of commitment from them behind the scenes, but now you're starting to play at a, you know, business, a motor racing business sense at a whole new level, aren't you?
• 9:47
  What's that been like?
• 9:48
  Yeah, as a 16-year-old, it's a bit surreal to say that at the same time I'm a driver and almost a businesswoman because motor sports is so political as well.
• 9:58
  It's important to build yourself a platform on as many areas as you can.
• 10:03
  Social media is very, very important to build yourself on.
• 10:05
  Yeah.
• 10:06
  And sponsors, I wouldn't be where I am now without them.
• 10:11
  And I think they've just helped me grow as a driver but come to F1 Academy as the driver I am today.
• 10:19
  Tell me a little bit more about them because you've got some good...
• 10:22
  sponsors on board that are assisting you in this process.
• 10:25
  And some of them are not what we might consider to be like standard motor racing sponsorships either.
• 10:31
  There's some real kind of cutting edge stuff there, isn't there?
• 10:33
  Yeah, for sure.
• 10:34
  I have Weller on board with me in the F1 Academy.
• 10:37
  They're my car sponsor.
• 10:38
  But alongside that, I have Coboodle Kitchen.
• 10:41
  They're a kitchen company and they've actually been my day one sponsor.
• 10:44
  Have they?
• 10:45
  Yeah, it's crazy how I actually met them.
• 10:48
  It's a funny story, actually.
• 10:49
  I met them at a Grand Prix in this box on a grandstand.
• 10:53
  Corporate box, yeah.
• 10:55
  But I got these tickets kind of by an accident, and I was there with my friends, more for business people, good clients.
• 11:03
  They seen two kids there, and they tried to kick me out.
• 11:06
  And I'm like, no, hang on.
• 11:08
  Hang on a minute, I'm here on merit.
• 11:09
  So I tried to, you know, pull out a card and say, yeah, yeah, I'm actually a driver.
• 11:13
  I'm here in this box to watch the race.
• 11:15
  And the guy goes, oh, let me sponsor you.
• 11:18
  And it was just unbelievable.
• 11:19
  You know, I just came out of Cardi, Inc. And I wanted to transition to cars.
• 11:23
  That was unbelievable how that chance came to me.
• 11:26
  But it's a bit funny because he tried to kick me out.
• 11:28
  But I came, you know, they said I'm a driver.
• 11:31
  I'm a huge believer sometimes in this business there are little almost like sliding doors moments.
• 11:38
  You were clearly meant to be there, which is excellent.
• 11:40
  So F1 Academy has gone through this almost stratospheric growth.
• 11:47
  You are there at a really cool time of it.
• 11:50
  Susie Wolfe is a driving force of this whole initiative.
• 11:53
  What has it been like being around her?
• 11:55
  Has she been great from a support and advice standpoint?
• 11:58
  Yeah.
• 11:58
  A hundred percent.
• 11:59
  Susie is like the boss woman in the F1 Academy.
• 12:02
  And to see her supporting our races on the grid, always watching every move we do, like in a way it's a little bit scary, but it's so amazing to see this role model like supporting us.
• 12:14
  When I was younger, I didn't really have anyone to aspire to.
• 12:17
  And now that she's just like always in front of our eyes, it's incredible to see that she's really, really like taking action to bring a female into Formula One.
• 12:26
  And having a few conversations with her here and there, I mean, she's always busy, but it's still surreal to have her.
• 12:32
  That's great.
• 12:33
  I mean, given what she achieved in her own driving career and making it with Williams and so on, that's great.
• 12:41
  More than just a role model, I think, in some ways, because she's got such a grasp of the areas beyond the car and beyond the cockpit itself.
• 12:49
  Yeah.
• 12:49
  But you and I...
• 12:51
  spoke in Singapore, you then went on to have a fantastic race, which I was so pleased, um, for you.
• 12:57
  Is that kind of a, a season highlight?
• 12:59
  How did you feel about Singapore and so on?
• 13:01
  Yeah, I think Singapore is definitely one of my favorites on the calendar this year.
• 13:05
  I just enjoyed the track crazy.
• 13:08
  Like it was, it was the definition of a gamble in that last race, um, with the rain having on, like with the rain on half of the track.
• 13:16
  Yeah.
• 13:17
  I think that was really hard to manage as a driver.
• 13:20
  Um, yeah.
• 13:20
  Did you enjoy the style of track?
• 13:22
  Because it's a brutally unforgiving place, isn't it?
• 13:24
  Yeah, I think it's really a driver's track.
• 13:26
  And it's about adapting quickly because we had one practice.
• 13:31
  And for us rookies, we've never been to that track as well.
• 13:34
  So for me, I really, really enjoyed that thrill of having to adapt quickly and to make moves in a race.
• 13:40
  Have there been other mentors for you?
• 13:42
  We've just talked Susie, obviously, but have there been other people along the way, maybe someone here from Australia that have given a bit of guidance as you go?
• 13:48
  Yeah, 100%.
• 13:49
  I think my two managers, John Carla Fisher-Keller and Marco Cioci, they've guided me in the best ways possible that they can.
• 13:56
  But I also have a driver coach over here, Tim Macro.
• 13:59
  Oh, nice.
• 14:00
  Yeah.
• 14:00
  He's helped me along my way.
• 14:02
  Rowan Ambrose, I'm sure you know of.
• 14:05
  He's helped me in my karting career immensely and I wouldn't be the driver that I am today without him.
• 14:11
  You have some great people in your corner, which I'm so pleased about.
• 14:14
  What's the toughest thing you've had to deal with in this process?
• 14:18
  Because all of these women are intensely competitive.
• 14:22
  They're all from different nations.
• 14:23
  We are very lucky we have two Australians
• 14:26
  in the field.
• 14:27
  As you climb, as you go here, what's been the kind of toughest thing you've had to adapt to?
• 14:31
  And maybe it's something as simple as living away from home, for example, at 16.
• 14:35
  I think, yeah, definitely moving my life over to Europe, my sporting life over to Europe has been like one of the toughest things.
• 14:42
  I don't get to see my family that often, but I think knowing that motorsport can...
• 14:47
  have more lows than ups is like definitely huge.
• 14:51
  You know, it takes a lot of mental space.
• 14:53
  You can have high hopes for a race and unfortunately that can all go crumbling down out of your control.
• 14:59
  I think like one of my toughest races was in Shanghai.
• 15:02
  I qualified six.
• 15:03
  Yeah.
• 15:04
  starting third on the grid, and unfortunately, I got a few penalties out of my control.
• 15:09
  And then I tried to give it another shot in the second race, and I got taken out.
• 15:12
  So it's just really unfortunate how motorsport can always, you know, go wrong.
• 15:18
  But what I like about that is it sounds as though you're good at...
• 15:22
  framing it and parking it, are you?
• 15:24
  Like, are you good at going, okay, that's happened.
• 15:26
  I have to move forward.
• 15:28
  Is that a learned thing because of where you are in F1 Academy?
• 15:31
  100%.
• 15:31
  I mean, it's common sense.
• 15:33
  You get beaten down about one thing, but it's always important to look forward.
• 15:36
  It's such a long game.
• 15:38
  I'm only in Formula 4.
• 15:40
  I'm 16 years old.
• 15:41
  I'm trying to get into Formula 1.
• 15:42
  It's such a long road ahead of me.
• 15:44
  Great job.
• 15:45
  Great job.
• 15:45
  I love that.
• 15:46
  I wish I had that.
• 15:46
  As I've said a couple of times lately to different people, I wish I had that outlook at your age.
• 15:52
  How do you go from conversations?
• 15:54
  Because it is so important what F1 Academy is doing here.
• 15:59
  But what I've come to appreciate from a lot of women in all areas of motorsport is that –
• 16:07
  The gender-based conversations, they are important, but you also want to move away from that to skills-based stuff and focus on your own ability, irrespective of the fact that you're female.
• 16:18
  Is that right?
• 16:18
  Yeah, 100%.
• 16:19
  I think for me, like...
• 16:22
  gender doesn't really play out in your performance.
• 16:25
  Like carding with men and boys my age, it's always been like whoever's older, you get put into a category.
• 16:34
  And I think everyone has the same talent.
• 16:36
  It's just how much you can like,
• 16:39
  put down that performance.
• 16:41
  So I think gender doesn't, I think motorsport is one of the only sports that doesn't really show girls.
• 16:47
  I mean, sorry, men are more naturally stronger, which is probably one of our only disadvantages in motorsport.
• 16:53
  But I think that girls are capable of being as good as the men.
• 16:59
  We are not done yet on this edition of the short cast.
• 17:02
  Stick around more with Joanne Cicconti in just a few moments.
• 17:08
  You're listening to the Motorsport Brief.
• 17:09
  Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for a new feature episode with Colin Bond, Australian touring car great who was equally talented in a rally car.
• 17:18
  Factory success with Holden and Ford and a whole lot more.
• 17:21
  He has a great new book out just in time for Christmas too.
• 17:25
  It's called Full Tilt.
• 17:27
  Check it out when you can.
• 17:28
  Let's get back to the convo with Joanne Cicconti now.
• 17:32
  Where to next?
• 17:33
  Have you started to have conversations about 2026?
• 17:35
  How are you going with all of that with the partners and so on?
• 17:39
  Yeah, I think there's definitely conversations for 2026.
• 17:42
  I think my sponsors are doing an amazing job.
• 17:45
  I have now Fleet Space, which is a space company.
• 17:49
  Tell us about that.
• 17:50
  That's super cool.
• 17:51
  Of course.
• 17:52
  They provide technology and data from space, and that's incredible.
• 17:58
  I love how they've paired with you on this.
• 17:59
  Yeah.
• 18:00
  They've obviously seen a nice synergy.
• 18:02
  Yeah, and motorsport, again, it's all about budget.
• 18:05
  It's a very, very expensive sport.
• 18:07
  So not only I decided to pick a cool sport, but a very expensive one, so my parents are struggling with that one.
• 18:14
  But fleet space, I have now cotton on.
• 18:17
  I have Nike on board with me.
• 18:20
  Proper blue.
• 18:21
  chip for sure i'm really really i can't be more grateful enough to have them on board with me in my 2026 um season yeah so nothing's really confirmed yet but i hope good news okay cool let's keep our fingers crossed for you on that let's talk about the team that you're with this season maybe some of the people in the the pit lane there that are a bit more experienced in f1 academy that you might have been able to draw from and so on um
• 18:45
  Yeah, my teammates, especially Maya.
• 18:47
  Maya Perk.
• 18:48
  Yeah, she's competing in the F1 Academy this season and almost trying to win the championship.
• 18:55
  She did super well in Singapore.
• 18:57
  She did.
• 18:57
  She knows how to assert her dominance and she's quite good.
• 19:01
  It's honestly so inspiring and she's always been like an inspiration, but to be like teammates with her is amazing.
• 19:08
  It's incredible.
• 19:09
  And she's such a nice friend as well to have for both Alba and I.
• 19:13
  But to have her data and her experience is incredible.
• 19:17
  I couldn't ask for any more.
• 19:18
  So are you learning twofold from her then maybe about the – I mean, it's her – you know, she's been in it for a couple of years now.
• 19:24
  So are you learning about the car and what it can do and maybe Singapore-centric things?
• 19:28
  But on the flip side, she strikes me as an assertive person and the importance of that too.
• 19:32
  Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 19:33
  She's got so many years of experience underneath her belt.
• 19:35
  And I think even racing in Europe is another level of experience that you have to kind of learn.
• 19:40
  So good for you, that, isn't it?
• 19:41
  Yeah.
• 19:42
  You know, we're from Australia and we're so far away and the action in Europe is so much, so different.
• 19:47
  The intensity of it.
• 19:49
  Yeah.
• 19:49
  And, you know, the level of competition is so different.
• 19:52
  But yeah, I learned so, so much from Maya and to have her as a teammate is incredible.
• 19:56
  Vegas is next.
• 19:58
  I mean, it's a little way away as we record this.
• 20:00
  What are you doing from a preparation standpoint?
• 20:02
  How excited are you about that and so on?
• 20:04
  Yeah, I can't believe we're racing in Vegas.
• 20:06
  Vegas, baby, here we come.
• 20:08
  But, yeah, it's incredible.
• 20:10
  So I'm going to try and do as much gym work as I usually do.
• 20:13
  We're going to fit in some sim with the team as well.
• 20:17
  But, yeah, I can't wait to race in Vegas and prepare heaps for next year.
• 20:21
  Good.
• 20:22
  Is the name Joanne Cicconti back home in Australia resonating a bit more?
• 20:26
  Do you feel like because of what you're doing that you can see a difference?
• 20:30
  I know it's not, you know, F1 level or, you know, the craziness that perhaps Oscar Piastri might be experiencing at the moment, but have you seen...
• 20:40
  the growth and that not just in the partners, but even in a general sense.
• 20:43
  Yeah.
• 20:43
  I mean, I like to try and keep my head high about it, but I like to focus on what I'm doing.
• 20:49
  Obviously, I am grateful.
• 20:51
  It's hard to acknowledge what I've achieved and sit back and be like, wow, I've actually done a lot.
• 20:56
  But it's good to see that I'm a role model in
• 20:59
  motorsport for girls or boys, but I like to be like a role model and I like to see my messages that I receive or fans that come up to me and say, oh, you've made me want to start motorsport.
• 21:11
  For me, this is the best thing I could ever hear.
• 21:14
  It's honestly, it's amazing.
• 21:15
  You are great in that regard.
• 21:16
  And the thing that
• 21:18
  I love about it collectively is it doesn't matter if someone isn't pursuing a driving career, they might be wanting to be an engineer or something.
• 21:25
  It does showcase women in motorsport at all sorts of levels.
• 21:31
  Amazing to think at age 16, as we wrap this up, that you're already understanding the importance of
• 21:39
  role models, not just for you, but what you can perhaps do to the next nine-year-old that is coming through karting.
• 21:47
  What would be the advice to someone who might be aiming to get a pink plate or to, you know, to perhaps one day get to F1 Academy?
• 21:54
  What would you say to them?
• 21:55
  You know, just like I said to you before, for people who are wondering if they should start motorsport, I always say just do it.
• 22:03
  And I can relate to that in some sense because my dad, he only saw it as a passion and he regretted not keep going and seeing what it could turn out to.
• 22:11
  And that's why he gave that opportunity to us.
• 22:13
  And now it's the best decision he's ever made in his life.
• 22:16
  And he's giving us this chance.
• 22:17
  And I would always say, you know, just do it.
• 22:20
  You'll never regret it.
• 22:20
  It's such an experience that you can never forget.
• 22:23
  And you have such a long way ahead of you if you are in motorsport.
• 22:26
  Don't worry about the mistakes.
• 22:28
  Just keep your eyes forward.
• 22:29
  And I'm sure the next opportunity you get will be even better than the last one that you had.
• 22:33
  Great job, Hugh.
• 22:34
  Well done.
• 22:35
  Your lovely mum and dad are outside and congratulations to them for all the hard work they're putting in to help make this happen.
• 22:42
  But I love the fact that you have this internal drive at your age to pursue this.
• 22:47
  Keep boxing hard and we hope the rest of the year in 2026 is good to you.
• 22:51
  Thank you for coming in today.
• 22:52
  Thank you, Rusty.
• 22:53
  Thanks for everything.
• 22:58
  We have a brand new short cast in the Rusty's Garage Library.
• 23:02
  Absolutely thrilled to have 16-year-old Joanne Cicconti here with us to tell a bit of her story as you get set for the final round of F1 Academy in Vegas.
• 23:12
  You excited?
• 23:12
  Woo, Vegas, baby.
• 23:17
  Now, if this chat with Joanne has inspired you a little, can I direct you to the F1 Academy socials and the F1academy.com website?
• 23:24
  You may not necessarily want to be a driver, and that's fine.
• 23:27
  There's opportunity in the sport beyond that.
• 23:30
  Engineering, data analysis, perhaps even on the tire or category management side.
• 23:35
  If you're in high school, check out
• 23:37
  STEM racing.
• 23:38
  It used to be known as the F1 in Schools program.
• 23:41
  The world final was in Singapore while I was there recently, and the Aussies starred, and the Kiwis fared incredibly well too.
• 23:48
  Before we go, a quick shout out to Ava Anagnostiades.
• 23:52
  We wish her a speedy recovery.
• 23:54
  She missed the Singapore round of F1 Academy through injury.
• 23:57
  Ava's had surgery on her left foot, and as she continues to recover, it means that she won't be behind the wheel for
• 24:04
  for the season finale in Vegas either, sadly.
• 24:07
  We had a great chat with her about mid-season.
• 24:10
  You can find that in our library.
• 24:12
  We'll catch you next week, everybody.
• 24:14
  Bye for now.