Inspirational racing driver Nathalie McGloin recounts the “best day of my life” – and Kimi Raikkonen’s role in it – in the latest episode of the Hidden Voices podcast.
The new podcast from The Race aims to shine a light on diversity in motorsport, and picks up with McGloin, who became a tetraplegic at the age of 16.
She had initially intended to become a solicitor and attended university, but became the first women with spinal injuries to be granted a racing licence in the UK and has been racing in the Porsche Club Championship since 2015.
McGloin discusses coming to terms with her injury, the somewhat unusual experience motorsport provides of being able to fight able-bodied people for glory in a racing car and becoming the chair of the FIA disability and access ability commission tasked with helping both competitors and fans at motorsport venues.
In 2018 she was invited by Motorsport UK president David Richards to award the third-place trophy at the British Grand Prix, which went to then-Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen.
That made McGloin the first disabled sportsperson to award a trophy on a Formula 1 podium
“I saw Kimi on the Saturday and he was in the paddock being harassed by a crazy fan,” McGloin recounts.
“And I thought, I’m going to have to go and introduce myself to him because I either wanted it to be Max [Verstappen] or Kimi that I presented the trophy to.
“And I just went up to him and said ‘hi, Kimi, my name is Nathalie McGloin and I’m president of the FIA disability and accessibility commission. I’m presenting the third-place trophy tomorrow.’
“And I think he just looked at me and kind of just went ‘course you are!’ You know, some crazy woman in a wheelchair thinks she could be on the podium tomorrow after the race!”
McGloin then described her experience on the podium and Raikkonen’s apparent surprise at seeing her.
“When I picked the trophy up, because I was hidden slightly by the stand the trophies were on, Kimi hadn’t seen me and as I went around the corner, he jumped across the podium and he said: ‘It’s you!’
“I said: ‘I know, I told you!’ And he was like, ‘brilliant!’. And he absolutely made that for me. Because his reaction, it was so genuine.
“It was a big trophy and I was worried that I might drop it. He seemed to appreciate that because he helped me kind of give it to him.
“And Sebastian [Vettel] and Lewis [Hamilton] stood on the other two steps, because of the position of the podium, I couldn’t actually get round to shake their hands. So I just kind of waved at them to say congratulations.
“They both made the effort to step down and Lewis actually walked around and shook my hand and Seb leaned over as well.
“They were the drivers on the podium but they made it so special for me, and I honestly I will say this forever – well, maybe forever – but at that moment it was the best day of my life, it was so incredible.”
McGloin is an inspirational speaker and ambassador for a number of charities outside of her racing commitments, but is never far from a car thanks to her work as co-founder of the Spinal Track charity, which helps give disabled people a chance in a race and/or rally car.
Hidden Voices is a series of podcasts by The Race looking at diversity in motorsport. Hosted by Claire Cottingham, it tells the inspirational stories of those who broke the mould to succeed at the highest level. Click here to subscribe to the full series
