Rokt Goes Racing With Red Bull’s F1 Academy Driver Hamda Al Qubaisi

Formula 1’s Oracle Red Bull Racing and its official team partner Rokt, the e-commerce technology company that uses AI to make transactions relevant to shoppers, have announced the expansion of their partnership with the racing team to encompass F1 Academy for the 2024 season.

F1 Academy is an all-women single-seater racing championship and developmental driving program for young drivers, spearheaded by former Scottish racer and managing director of F1 Academy Susie Wolff. Fifteen identical cars will be driven by women between the ages of 16 and 25, many of whom have karting and junior racing experience, as they mentally and physically prepare for competition to progress to higher levels of competitive racing.

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Rokt’s partnership encompasses supporting Red Bull Academy Program Emirati driver Hamda Al Qubaisi as she drives the newly launched Red Bull Racing Pepe Jeans car for F1 Academy’s 2024 season. The 21-year-old started her career in 2015 with karting and then later progressed to Italian Formula 4. Al Qubaisi has won three times for U.A.E.’s F4 and has competed in Formula Regional European and Asian championships.

This is Al Qubaisi’s second year competing in the F1 Academy since 2023, where she finished third in driver standings and won four times across last season. She will race in seven races coinciding with the Formula 1 World Championship calendar in major circuits including Jeddah, Miami, Zandvoort, Singapore and Abu Dhabi.

“We’re thrilled to expand our partnership with Oracle Red Bull Racing by supporting their F1 Academy Program for the 2024 season,” said Elizabeth Buchanan, chief commercial officer at Rokt. “F1 Academy’s mission is to develop and prepare female drivers to progress to higher levels of competition and reach their full potential in motorsports. By supporting the Red Bull Academy Program, we’re building on the successful partnership Rokt first launched with Oracle Red Bull Racing last year to foster diversity across sports, technology and business globally.”

This partnership is just the latest of initiatives between Rokt and Oracle Red Bull Racing to empower women in F1 — with the launch of a five-part video series highlighting five female engineers from Oracle Red Bull Racing. The duo launched their partnership last year with Rokt the Rig, a global talent search and driver development program designed to identify and support women simulator races.

Sarah Harrington, program manager at Red Bull Academy, said the team’s partnership with Rokt and this expansion into F1 Academy is a critical step in bringing more women representation in F1 and STEM. “We look forward to creating a future where women are both on the track and on the podium that starts with encouraging, inspiring and educating girls at a younger age.”

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