Laura Prevot: Shifting Gears and Making Her Mark in Motorsport
From F1 Academy to FRECA with Prema, Laura Prevot shares her journey as a first mechanic, combining passion and expertise to build the perfect car for her drivers. She opens up about overcoming challenges, breaking through negative comments, and thriving in a male-dominated environment—all while chasing her dream of joining Ferrari.
Can you introduce yourself and your work in motorsport?
My name is Laura, I’m 24 yo, I’m first mechanic in f1 academy and second mechanic in FRECA for Prema.
Did you always want to work in this industry ?
No, I did a sciences level because I wanted to fly a fighter plane but I have glasses so is not possible. During my sciences level I started to do some mechanics with friends. I enjoyed it so I did everything to work in this industry
What do you like about this industry ?
I think it’s to make the perfect car for the driver. The sensation to do your job perfectly and to have a result after this. The feeling to be recompensed about your work.
Was it easy to find your first job in this industry ?
It wasn’t easy to find a job in Motorsport. I needed to do mechanic sportive school before and did internship.
Was it also hard to find an internship ?
Yes and no. I would say yes because if you know no one you need to search email of every team and send a lot of mail and wait for a respond and sometimes you wait for nothing. And I would say no because when you find an internship you show them your potential and they want to keep you.
Do you have tips for making more easily finding an internship ?
Yes maybe you can just show them you are the person for the internship, try to call or send few mails
What was your first experience in motorsport ?
It was in Ffsa academy, it’s a school but doing a f4 championship inside the school. So if you consider this it was. The second most important is 24h of Le Mans with prema
Did you like your experience in Le Mans ?
Yes it was the best moment of my working life because it’s an amazing experience about work and life. Full emotional
Have you ever encountered comments about the fact that you are a woman in motorsport ?
Yes sure ! During all my school but now they know I can do the same work of them or maybe better than them so it’s okay but at the beginning it was something like “you are a woman you cannot do this work” or “you aren’t strong to do it”
Did those comments affect you ?
Yes sure. But I wanted to show them how I can do it perfectly and close their mouth
What do you think about the f1 academy championship ?
I think it’s a good idea to see girls in the world of Motorsport. They put a light on the girls but at least when they go in normal categories with everyone, we see the difference between them
What’s your goal for you work ?
F1 only to touch the Graal! With Ferrari for sure. I’m already in Italian team it’s to learn Italian properly and going in Ferrari. I like the mix of cultures because you can find Italian, English, French, Irish, Portuguese… people and you can learn a lot of different things about the same work. I like my team because it’s big one, one day I can work in f4, one other in FRECA, on other one in f2 … a lot of categories so a lot of possibilities to progress
For you, what are the qualities needed to work in motorsport ?
Be meticulous, be motivated, be patient, be humble, be focused