From the creation of the first automobile in 1886, where Bertha Benz was crucially involved in the technical mechanism processes of her husband's credited creation, to Laura Muller becoming the first female race engineer in Formula 1 history in 2025, women have always been, and will always be, involved in the world of motorsports. Despite this, motorsports have often been dominated by men. 

It was around nine o’clock on a Monday morning when I had the opportunity to speak on the phone with PremiAir race engineer Romy Mayer, who was on maternity leave, about her experience entering the motorsports world and her perspective on the future of women in the industry. 

Mayer is the first and only full-time female race engineer in the Australian Supercars series. Originally from Germany, she first became interested in a career in motorsports after studying automotive mechanical engineering at Hochschule Esslingen University of Applied Sciences.

“The main reason I choose to be in motorsport is, you know, that you see the result of your decision of your actions straight away,” she said. “So, whenever the car in a practice session for example comes in, the driver tells you, ‘it’s doing this and this, in that corner.’ You make a change on the settings or change a different part on the car, and you send him out again and he goes either faster or slower and will give you feedback right away.” 

This fast-paced, immediate risk and reward aspect of the sport is what drew Mayer from her original engineering pursuits of road cars, where it often took years to see the impacts of her modification decisions. 

She began through working for the Mercedes team in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship in Germany for 5 years as a data and performance engineer. She then joined Triple Eight Race Engineering (formally branded under Red Bull Ampol Holden) in the 2015 Supercars Championship as a Data and Performance Engineer, where the team won. 

“We won a lot of championships at the team and also […] with Jamie Whincup. I worked for […] five years, won championships there as well, and that’s obviously very special to be part of such a successful team in Australia.” 

However, her main pride when discussing her career thus far revolves around her current team in Supercars. Today, she is the race engineer for Car #31 driven by James Golding for PremiAir Racing—the youngest team on the grid, having only been around for three years. 

Recollecting obvious changes from her time at Red Bull, Mayer said, “obviously [came] totally different challenge[s]—building a new team [and] developing it.” But since joining in 2023, they have achieved their first podium as a team, as well as a pole position for Golding last year.

Although Mayer achieved many impressive accomplishments in her career, the male dominance within the industry is ever-present, with Mayer recognising, “I kind of was always in a position where there were little females and much more men. And so, I’m kind of used to that environment.” Even after 15 years within the industry, Mayer added that she feels that “as a woman you always need to prove yourself […] that you can do that job.”

Within fields primarily populated by men, there seems to be an ever-present pressure for women to be better than average to prove they belong in their position. Mayer felt she “needed to work twice as hard, [as] any male colleague or male engineer [she] work[ed] with.” 

“It will take very long for that to change,” Mayer mentioned. “It has changed—there are much more females coming into the industry. There’s a lot, not a lot, but there are now initiatives to help women making that step into the industry.” 

Some of these initiatives include the Dare to Be Different program (D2BD) created by Susie Wolff, who was the last woman to drive a Formula 1 car on a Grand Prix weekend back in 2014. D2BD was a not-for-profit organisation started in 2016 to support the development of young girls in all fields across motorsports. Created after was the FIA Girls on Track program, which currently runs alongside official FIA motorsports events, providing Inspire programs for girls aged 8-15 and career pathways for those aged 15-22. Wolff’s D2BD and FIA Girls on Track merged into one initiative in 2020, and their impacts are clear, with statistics from Sustainable Magazine presenting an increase in the percentage of female staff rising from 28% in 2018 to 37% in 2023 in Formula 1 alone. 

Mayer also credited new media environments as having a significant impact on promoting this rise in female involvement: “Nowadays with social media and interest in the TV, it’s much more personal, and you see that there are actually women working in the industry already, so that’s obviously amazing. We have much more!”

She continued, “We have a great community in Australia amongst the women working in the industry and a lot of initiatives and events to showcase what we are doing and helping young women if they want to make a step in the industry.” 

Although a small start, these platforms are uplifting young women to get involved by creating a space where women can participate and feel worthy within the motorsports industry. Whether that be behind the wheel as a driver, behind the scenes as an engineer, or working in any supporting department, Mayer and many others prove that women have a place in motorsports.

Photography credit: Ashley Syers