Kareen Kaur on Formula 4, F1 goals, and why she refuses to hit the brakes

Somewhere in her old family album is a strangely prophetic photograph of Kareen. She’d just been cradled back from the hospital, and her father, Kuldeep, immediately dressed her in a tiny white shirt he’d made for his firstborn. It said ‘Future Race Car Driver’ in bright red letters. Little did her dad know that the race fanatic within him would manifest those simple words into a future on the fast track for his daughter, who has vroomed her way into the Formula 4 circuit at 15. And, she is only just getting started. 

The week before Christmas last year, we caught up with Kaur zooming in from her home in Singapore, after she’d finished her routine netball practice around late evening—as her parents sat beside her beyond the vicinity of the camera. From tagging alongside her father to his car repair workshops to now training with him, she has come a long way within a handful of years. And, it only seems a little while ago when she was nine and stepping into her first go-kart under the watchful eyes of her father.

Sitting upright on her chair, what comes through as she speaks is a hawk-eyed focus on the finish line. “There was one time when someone hit me in a karting race and I had to stand last,” she recalled, adding: “I knew then that I had to do whatever it takes to get a podium finish—and I did.” This pride isn’t misplaced considering how she was overtaking people much older than her in karting races a mere year after she ever set foot in one—and it caught the attention of an Italian racing team. “After that I started racing internationally,” she shares.

Entering the arena

Kaur recalled the first time stepping into an F4 car and immediately being overcome with the excitement of manipulating a vehicle that would run at over 200kmph. 

Singapore doesn’t have a permanent race track that can support F4 racing, so she has to make the trip to Zhuhai in China to train with the Asia Racing Team, and follow up her on-track training sessions with off-track strength and endurance training and swift recovery. “You have to be so much stronger and remember a whole lot of technicalities,” she gushes, adding how she once gave her first trophy in karting to her mechanic to recognise the effort they put in. There is now a recognisable confidence which seamlessly rolls off her in the conversation—which is perhaps how she also handles pressure looking up to her F1 idol, the Belgian-Dutch Max Verstappen. “I love how focused he is to get to a goal,” she explains, adding: “I do get nervous—but I don’t let it get to me. I push these thoughts away by skipping, which makes me focus on the race.”

However, amid everything, Kaur is still in middle school, and this jump-start to her career means finishing homework in connecting flights and quiet hotel rooms, in between planning game strategy and spending long days away from friends. Sometimes, catching a glimpse of reality TV shows like Physical: Asia or Ninja Warrior. When asked how she has worked around this schedule, she says it’s her friends who have helped her stay afloat with classes. “They are supportive of what I do on social media, and sometimes even come to my races,” she smiles. 

It’s also her parents—who had preponed their holiday so their eldest could make it back in time for her training in December, when the rest of the world would be on downtime. And her little sister, she adds, trudging along to every single of her races—and making sure she’s hydrated. “My father helped me a lot financially,” she says, smiling at the duo sitting beside her. “My mom is my moral support—when you asked me about nervousness, she is the one who helps me during such times.” While the former is the stricter one, he is also the one keeping up the tradition of going to McDonalds and ordering a filet-o-fish burger, nuggets, and fries after a good race.

Battleground, revved

Her family’s heart jumped to their throats when they saw her car skid to the wall after being hit by another car—right before the ROK Cup Superfinal in Italy, last year. “I injured my right hand,” she says, while admitting that a part of her was afraid to go to the race, worried if the same thing would happen again. “But eventually, I showed up and didn’t go back home,” she says, adding: “I just realised I worked very hard for this, and I’ll not give up halfway.” 

This refusal to stand down to defeat is cracked with a strange sense of sudden humility as she shares that she sees herself progressing to F2 in the next 10 years—and when cajoled by her parents, admits she’d like to see herself competing in F1. It’s no surprise then that she is being considered as a wild card entry to F1 in the upcoming months, where she hopes we’ll see her signature yellow helmet painted with her insignia—a butterfly—blazing through the competition.

More often than not, Kaur finds herself the only girl in the room fighting her way through male opponents...and it’s something she wants to change. “Recently, I got to know that a girl started carting as a hobby after watching me, and I felt really touched,” she smiles, adding: “It’s a great feeling to know I inspire other girls to get into the sport.”

Lead image: Akhil Puthiyedath

This article first appeared in Cosmopolitan India's January-February 2026 print edition.

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