American Winter Olympics icon Lindsey Vonn recalled how she almost made a switch to Formula 1 only to be hampered by “can’t get pregnant” stipulation.
The 2026 edition of the Winter Olympics are underway, with Vonn agonisingly crashing out on her comeback run at the downhill competition in Cortina, and sustaining a fractured leg.
The 41-year-old, who has carved out a niche for her in Alpine ski-racing, had also been nursing a ruptured ACL, sustained in her final race before the Olympics.
A Red Bull athlete, the 2010 downhill Gold medallist, in fact, is more than nifty behind a steering wheel as well.
During a 2020 episode of In depth with Graham Bensinger, she recalled how she almost made a switch to single-seater racing and was on her way to F1.
“I drove in Spielberg in Austria on the Formula 1 track,” she said. “Another time, on the autobahn, we went 130mph. I was with [three-time alpine skiing Olympic champion] Maria Hofl-Reisch, driving her Audi R8.
“There’s a good stretch south of Munich where there’s no speed limit, and she was like ‘Come on, Lindsey, you’re not going very fast.’ Of course, I then had to show her what was up!
“But on the racing track, we went much faster. I had a tendency to go a little too fast on the corners, and I would spin out.”
Her affiliation to Red Bull would have allowed her to practically chart a switch into the world of motorsport. That said, the restrictiveness of the demands required to make that happen eventually hampered her plans.
She revealed how the stringent commitments required, including staving the prospect of motherhood, drove her away from that idea.
“I was thinking about switching to Formula 1 and trying to be a driver, but I couldn’t because they wanted me to fully commit to three years, and they were like: ‘You can’t get pregnant, and you can’t do anything.’,” Vonn revealed.
“And I’m like: ‘I don’t know if I really want to do that.’ That would have been something that was very exciting for the person I am.”
READ MORE – McLaren sure of ‘exploiting’ key area to ensure 2026 F1 success
Discussion about this post