"The freaking girl's fastest, what are you doing?": When Danica Patrick pulled back the curtain on the challenges she faced while racing in England

In 2018, Danica Patrick shared a story of how she struggled during her time in the United Kingdom, highlighting an incident when a team owner insinuated that something must be wrong with the other drivers in his team if a girl was quicker than them. The American spent the initial years of her motorsports career in England.

In 1998, Patrick moved to the United Kingdom, away from her family and friends, to pursue a career in motorsports. She was just 16 at the time and even dropped out of her high school to follow her dream.

Speaking on the In Depth with Graham Bensinger show in 2018, Patrick shared a story about her time in England, specifically about a test at Donington, when a team owner lashed out at the other drivers in the team as they were slower than Patrick. She said:

"We were at Donington, which is a track in England, and we were testing and I think it was raining on and off that day. I remember sitting on the pit lane, there were some chairs and one of the cars pulled in and asked who was fastest. And the owner stuck his head in the window and said, 'the freaking girl is fastest, what are you doing?', like as in, 'it shouldn't be that way.'"

Patrick shared feeling disappointed for not being appreciated for what she was doing at the time just because she was a woman. The former IndyCar star spent only three years in the UK, racing in Formula Vauxhall and Formula Ford, before moving back over to America.

Danica Patrick then went on to race in IndyCar and NASCAR over her 14-year career in American motorsports, and even made history by becoming the first and only woman in IndyCar history to win a race, when she did so at the Indy Japan 300 in 2008 with Andretti.

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Danica Patrick also shared the biggest challenge she faced during her career

Danica Patrick at the F1 Mexican Grand Prix, 2024 - Source: Getty

During the same interview in 2018, Danica Patrick shared that getting people to believe in her ability and talent has been her biggest struggle throughout her motorsports career. She also shared how it took 'a lot more than just one person' who believed in her within a team to get a shot.

Continuing on her story from her time in England, Patrick revealed that she has faced similar challenges throughout her career, and getting people to put their trust in her has been her biggest struggle.

"That's always been the biggest struggle, getting people to really believe in me, believe in what I believe I can do. And it's fine, I've had people believe that, yes, but it takes a lot more than just one person on a team to believe that." Patrick told Bensinger.

Since her retirement, Danica Patrick has become a media personality, having appeared on reality TV shows and even as a pundit covering IndyCar and F1 sporadically. More recently, she has also taken steps into the world of politics, having campaigned for President Donald Trump during the 2024 elections.