Sophia Flörsch has long since left the serious accident of 2018 behind – now the 22-year-old is approaching her dream of Formula 1. The Alpine team signed her for the junior squad. Flörsch returns to Formula 3 this season.
Racing driver Sophia Flörsch has taken a remarkable step in her fight for a future in the top classes of motorsport. The 22-year-old is now part of the junior squad of the French Alpine racing team, which both sides announced during the vehicle presentation for Formula 1. Flörsch will make her comeback in Formula 3 this year with the PHM Charouz team. “My aim has always been to race against the best of the best,” she said: “As part of Alpine and in cooperation with PHM, I’m definitely getting closer to this goal.”
Alpine, Renault’s factory team in Formula 1, will now support Flörsch on her way and can offer prospects in long-distance racing in addition to the premier class. The German is now part of Alpine’s “Rac(H)er” program, which aims to promote diversity in motorsport. “We’re looking at how she’s doing this year,” said Otmar Szafnauer, Alpine team boss in Formula 1: “It’s a very strong racing series, Formula 3 isn’t easy. We’ll help her to be successful.”
Flörsch began her single-seater career in the German and Italian Formula 4 (2016 and 2017), was the first woman to score points there and also finished on the podium twice in 2017 – at the Sachsenring and in Hockenheim. From 2018 to 2020, Flörsch was on the road at Formula 3 level, after which she switched to sports cars, driving the 24 Hours of Le Mans, among other things, and also competed in the DTM.
It became known through a spectacular accident in 2018 at the Macau Grand Prix, when it crashed through a perimeter fence at over 270 kilometers per hour and only came to a stop after colliding with a mobile platform. She sustained a spinal fracture, but surgery left no permanent physical damage. In 2020 she received the Laureus World Sports Award for “Comeback of the Year”.
