Atiqa Mir is a ten- year-old but with a special gift of driving and driving fast. She is dominating the Karting circuit in Europe and UAE in the junior circuit. Earlier this year, Atiqa was the first Indian and Asian to be signed by Formula 1 Academy for its driver program. The tween has big dreams. In an interview to NDTV she says, “I think it’s possible for a female to make it to Formula one. One just needs to have the dedication, the hard work. and the support from, your people around her. I’m aiming to get to Formula1 10 years from now.”
Currently in India on a break before the season gets hectic, her father Asif Mir and the initiator tells NDTV how it all began, “It started very innocently in the mall, driving one of those cars. Her interest grew, and, I wasn’t initially interested. Then, as we went karting one day it just dawned on me that she’s actually very good. And then I pursued it a little more, and, you know, here we are.”
She started karting at the age of 6. From a rookie track called Bambino to actual track- was a journey the Kashmiri girl scaled in two years. Today she races in the European karting circuit, doing 20-23 races a year.
Her trophy cabinet has also been fast filling up – a vice champion in the US circuit, adding many firsts to her name, that includes being and an Indian and a girl to finish in the top ten in Europe.
The passion for speed comes from father, Asif who was a racer himself.
“I actually got my shot a bit later, when I was, in my 20s. I happened to be India’s first national karting champion. I got support from a lot of, sponsors. A lot of people were keen to support because they thought I would be talented. And I then went to Formula Asia, which was a very competitive series back in the day.”
Asif, who handles a family business, is Atiqa’s father, coach, and technical manager. There are challenges in all the roles. He says the biggest challenge is to keep emotions out of the sport
“to keep the emotions out of it is tough. You want to be a coach, not a father. Put the game face on. It doesn’t always work. Especially when the chips are down.”
Today Asif and his wife are a part of 5-member support team for their daughter Atiqa. The F1 academy’s support is a major stepping stone in Atiqa’s blossoming racing. She has become the first Indian female to sign for a full season with World Series Karting.
But the tween, who lives in Dubai with her parents and two siblings, rarely gets the opportunity to live a life like girls of her age.
“Sometimes when I see other girls doing fun stuff and playing and I don’t really have time to play, then I get a little bit upset. But then I tell myself, I’m a karter and they’re not. So I have to have a different lifestyle to them. Obviously, playing in the park is more fun, but you have to do things the hard way,” says Atiqa.
There are other hard parts too, like dealing with the bullies on the track. Atiqa opens up,” it feels pretty good to be the only female out there, but obviously you get, bullied a lot on the track, but you just have to deal with it.”
Her father is emotional at times as says,” I don’t want to whine too much, but I can tell you it happens very often. And what’s the way out? We just have to deal with. When she was younger, she would come crying and would tell her that you have to deal with it. It’s tougher for a girl out there is because when a guy gets beaten it becomes an ego issue.
“Sometimes there are incidents when a race is going nice and happy, but suddenly I don’t know why a guy smashes her on the track. And then later I find out that she had overtaken one of his friend in another race.”
Atiqa knows that journey from karting to F1 is long. The plan is to enter F4 by the time she is 15 year old, and then upwards into the elite league. For now while the academy is teaching her how to be an ace driver. Atiqa’s family is telling her to believe that being the first woman on the circuit is not impossible.
Her message to girls of her age is, “Believe in yourself. Find the passion, dream it, follow it, work hard on it, never give up. And don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it.”
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