What were you doing when you were 12 years old? Probably not driving a Formula 3 car in anger around a former F1 track. That is exactly what Japanese prodigy Juju Noda was up to this week at Okayama.
Between testing sessions for the SuperGT series, the young daughter of former F1 and IndyCar driver Hideki Noda took to the track in a bright metallic pink car. This is was not her first time at the wheel of a relativerly powerful single seater, though. She already tested an F3 car in December last year and had already tried F4 machinery by the age of 9.
This time, however, a broader fanbase was able to follow her exploits as british driver Jann Mardenborough (on duty at Okayama for Nissan) posted a video of the youngster tackling the middle sector of the track on Twitter. "Whoah! Pass on our number", responded Carlin, one of the biggest junior formula teams in the motorsport scene, through their official account.
Noda has been able to hone her skills as a pupil in her father's racing academy. “I teach her the finer points of racing, but she just has so much raw, natural talent. Dare I say, much more than I ever did,” said Mr. Noda speaking to Forbes. “She has the ability to feel the limits of her race car, and the adhesion limits of the tyres. That’s critical and it’s not something you can teach someone. She was born with it.”
Although the international F4 sporting regulations prevent her from entering the official single seater ladder until the age of 15 anywhere in the world, she's already built up a following in Japan with regular TV appearances, an invitation to share the stage with Formula E driver Lucas Di Grassi at last year's Tokyo Motor Show and a sponsorship contract with a kid's apparel brand.
The 2021 season can't come soon enough for Noda, who has clear goals for her future career. “There’s already been women in F1, as F1 racers, but there hasn’t been any female F1 winners yet. I want to be the first one,” said the fastest elementary school student in Japan speaking to NHK World.
"Many factors will influence her career", explained former F1 driver Ukyo Katayama. "It's not just about luck, but the world economy and other factors completely outside of her control. The most important thing is that she has the talent and that will open doors for her."
So far, only two women have been able to start a Formula 1 Grand Prix, both of them Italian: Maria Teresa de Filippis in the 50s and Lella Lombardi in the 70s. Lombardi was also the first (and so far only) female to score in the World Championship with 0.5 points for her 6th place at the shortened 1976 Spanish Grand Prix.
Should Noda fulfill her ambitions of victory, she would also become Japan's most succesful F1 driver above podium finishers Aguri Suzuki, Takuma Sato and Kamui Kobayashi.
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