Breaking the glass ceiling, and how

Mark the name: Monisha Kaltenborn. She is the legal eagle turned Formula One high-flying history-maker.

And she is going places — fast.

Indian-born Monisha is the first woman to command the crucial, decision-making top role in a Grand Prix team. She is the new boss of Sauber with a 33.3 per cent ownership stake and a formidable, universally admired and respected presence on the pit wall.

The degree-laden first lady of F1, a lawyer by profession and an intellectual product of Vienna University and the London School of Economics, replaced the Principal team owner and founder Peter Sauber early in October. Her tough organisational ability, hiding behind a thoroughly and warmly welcoming smile and attitude, has impressed F1’s hard cases in what has up to now been a fortress of male domination.

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, after American girl racer Danica Patrick finished fourth in the Indy 500, earned world headlines when he joked: “All women should be dressed in white like domestic appliances.”

He would not be moved to make the same crack about baseball-capped and Sauber-outfitted Monisha who is as formidable and forthright a presence at the F1 ringmaster’s get-togethers as any of the 19 other team bosses...all men.

The Dehradun-born 41-year-old who joined the team in 2000 as head of the legal department says: “I fully believe you should be yourself in what you are doing and not try in any way to suppress it in a group where there are otherwise only men. It is important for women who are in high-profile positions to push the boundaries. They can give the strength or courage to other women to do this.

“I feel a certain responsibility to make over this message — and I am convinced it is not about their studies or skills and knowledge and very often it is about getting the opportunity.

“I have sometimes had situations where I have had to prove more when people see me, in some negotiations, a woman coming in, especially when it gets technical and they do have their doubts. I do think that as a woman in this business, you have to prove yourself as quicker and stronger with that little edge to be given credit.”

Kaltenborn, whose family moved to Austria when she was eight, was not involved in motorsport until she was 29 — but as a schoolgirl she used to watch the Himalayan Rally when it roared through her Dehradun hometown.

“Maybe, that fired up an interest and excitement about motorsport that I didn’t realise I had until the opportunities to be part of it started to roll,” she said.

And she adds: “What should not be forgotten is that we are here for the sport and must show to the public, all the fans, everywhere, that we have a passion for it — and we live from our emotion for it.”

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh, a Monisha admirer, comments: “This is F1 and the team principals are probably the most sexist, machismo bunch of managers you could meet.

“You come in and bluster your way around like I’ve done for the past 20-odd years and eventually someone gives you the job. In Monisha’s case she had to live through all that and endure all the sexism and scepticism.”