Formula 4 Guest Speaker.
The 2026 Formula 1 has gone silent, but Girls in STEM are roaring into the future.
In the lead up to the 2026 big race in Melbourne, Mac.Rob hosted a Q&A panel with the up-and-coming Formula 4 female driver, Joanne Ciconte. Joanne was racing go karts and accelerating to victory across the nation when Ms. Cordingley was her Year 7 - 8 English teacher. After visiting the Ultimate Formula 1 Experience at the Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre - where Joanne’s go kart and personal accessories were displayed alongside famous F1 drivers - we were lucky enough to have Joanne speak with the Mac.Rob Paddock Club, followed by a session with the VCE Philosophy class.
We invited passionate F1 enthusiasts from Footscray High School, accompanied by their Principal and Science teacher, to join our Paddock Club Panel to ask Joanne questions about women in motor sport, fast driving, and careers associated with F4 and F1. Many racing enthusiasts interested in driving and engineering attended the session along with some keen teachers to ask the hard questions around women in motor racing. The panel and attendees quizzed Joanne on physics, wellbeing, training and the demands of world travel while studying online VCE. At just 17 years old, Joanne is currently training at the base of Mount Fuji on the Fuji Raceway.
It was inspirational for our students to meet Joanne and have her sign many autographs as she leads the charge for more women in motorsports. Joanne is an exemplary VCE role model who manages the demands of being a world champion F4 driver and handling the demands of senior studies. We thank her father, Rob, for accompanying Joanne to our school as she only has her ‘Ls’ on the road although she clocks 250kms on the racetrack.
Currently, Joanne can be seen across social media through interviews and sponsorships as she strives to be Australia’s first woman F1 driver. It was a privilege and thrill to have Joanne share her stories where she credits the importance of her family support, managing time demands across the world and having the right mind set to follow your passion to be the world’s best. We will continue to follow Joanne’s success as she competes in the upcoming Japan’s Kyojo Cup and beyond. Joanne’s unforgettable visit to Mac.Rob was the highlight of this year’s Formula 1 Race as she paves the way for more girls in STEM to follow their passion.
Ms. Deborah Cordingley