Abu Dhabi: Monisha Kaltenborn is no normal working woman. Being the lone woman in a male-dominated sport like Formula One, the Sauber Formula One
team principal with a 33.3 per cent stakes in the team, Kaltenborn stands out as someone who is willing to take on the challenges thrown before her.
“This is a very big challenge for me,” Kaltenborn told Gulf News in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit on Friday.
“Just like in every male-dominated area, a woman has to put in that extra bit of effort to be successful. She has to do something more to be acknowledged at a similar level as a male colleague would be and I think I am in that sort of position,” she explained.
Born Monisha Narang on May 10, 1971 in Dehradun, India, Kaltenborn holds a 33.3 per cent stakes in Sauber. She has been the team’s CEO from January 2010 but was elevated earlier this year, thus becoming the first female team principal. “I think one should not allow this issue of male and female to get to you. There are some things that you cannot change in life and I cannot change being a woman,” Kaltenborn admitted.
Kaltenborn, who had long wanted to be an astronaut when she was young, is now ready to face up to the challenges before her at Sauber. “There are situations that we women can see things with less emotion and with a bit more distance when it comes to the sporting side of it,” she related.
“The other advantage is that women tend to go for the bigger picture where it is not just about me or just our team, but we tend to agree more when we see a particular decision is going to favour the sport rather than just us. And I feel women are more inclined to accepting this than men are,” Kaltenborn added.
With more than a decade’s experience with Sauber, Kaltenborn is confident of leading the team forward, more so starting with the drastic changes mooted within F1 from the 2014 season. “2013 looks confident as there are no major rule changes. So for the time-being we have been analysing the strengths and weaknesses of this car and how we can overcome them,” she related.
“The bigger challenge is going to be in 2014 when we will have fundamentally different rules on the chassis side and the power side. We need to focus on this and for a team like ours it is also very important that due to the competitive level that we have reached this year we can make use of this and take that next step because we really do not know what’s going to happen after that,” Kaltenborn added.
