Zimbabwean Stephanie Travers has made history after becoming the first black woman to mount a Formula One (F1) podium.
The 25-year-old works as the Petronas trackside fluid engineer for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team.
Over the weekend, Travers was one of those who stood on the podium to receive the award on behalf of the team.
The chemical engineer stood alongside six-time Formula One World Champion, Lewis Hamilton in mounting the podium at Sunday’s Styrian Grand Prix in Austria.
She has, therefore, become the first black woman to mount the F1 podium in the sport’s 70-year history.
Zimbabwe was represented on the podium at today’s Styrian Grand Prix in Austria! Alongside Lewis Hamilton was Stephanie Travers, Petronas Trackside Engineer for Mercedes, she’s Zimbabwean, got the job last year. The first black woman to stand on the F1 podium. @MichaelKalika pic.twitter.com/Vq7QjMMU24
— Steve Vickers (@SteveVickers5) July 12, 2020
Travers joined the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team in 2019 after beating more than 7,000 applicants.
She was born in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare and in an interview last year said she has loved motorsports since she was a kid.
“I had cousins who did Go-Karting and worked within racing, so I was very into the motorsport industry from a young age,” she told Marieclaire.co.uk.
“I really enjoyed learning about engines, how cars are put together and just seeing what happens when a car runs. I then went on to study chemical engineering at university.”
Indeed she got her dream job last year with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team after going through a rigorous five-stage selection process, where she was even interviewed by Petronas Group CEO, Giuseppe D’Arrigo in the final stage.
