Formula One F1 - Pre-Season Testing - Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain - February 21, 2024 McLaren's logo is seen during the pre-season testing REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
LONDON (Reuters) -Formula One champions McLaren have added Ella Hakkinen, 14-year-old daughter of Finland's double world champion Mika, to their Driver Development Programme along with British teenager Ella Stevens.
Together with Ella Lloyd, who has been racing this season in the all-female F1 Academy series and will continue next year for a second campaign, McLaren will have three Ellas on their books next year.
Hakkinen made an impact at the 2024 Champions of the Future Academy in Italy and has had wins and podium finishes around Europe in karting. She will be the youngest driver on the programme.
Her father, the "Flying Finn" who won the 1998 and 1999 F1 titles with McLaren and retired in 2001 with 20 wins, has already suggested she could become Formula One's first female driver since 1976.
"Ella is an extremely talented racing driver. I’m not just saying this as a father, but based on my observations as a former top driver," he told Finnish paper Ilta-Sanomat last month.
McLaren said the Finn would be testing single-seaters in preparation for 2027.
The team will also be entering a second car in F1 Academy for Stevens, with both cars run and operated by Rodin Motorsport.
Stevens, 19, is the only woman to have won in Britain's premier karting class.
"While I recognise that more remains to be done to increase female representation in motorsport, I'm immensely proud of the progress we've made in this space," said McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown in a statement.
"To now have three talented young female drivers in our Driver Development Programme is really exciting, and I cannot wait to see them hit the track."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
