A day with...
Page 46 THURSDAY/FRIDAY 6/7 December 2012 Sport360
THURSDAY/FRIDAY 6/7 OCTOBER 2011
Natasha Seatter
Malaysia’s first lady of motorsport Natasha Seatter’s motorsport beginnings may be similar to Lewis Hamilton’s (she started out as a fierce, go kart racer, aged 11), but she reminds us more of a prettier Kimi Raikkonen, especially when she said about her driving: “I just want to be sat alone to do my own thing.” (Sound familiar?) She may be a little more welcoming to the public eye than the Lotus F1 driver as a local racing celebrity back home in Malaysia, but all this fearless 19-year-old – dubbed South East Asia’s fastest lady racer, with good reason – wants to do is drive. And you’ll get to see her do it this weekend at Yas Marina Circuit when the 2012/13 Formula Gulf season continues. Interview by Kara Martin
You’re pretty much one of two or so female drivers racing out here, and you were the first female driver to win a national race in the UAE at just 18-yearsold, plus recently you crushed the allmale competition in the opening event of the Formula Gulf 1000 Championship at the Dubai Autodrome last month. How does all that make you feel? Well, generally it’s a male-dominated sport, but at the end of the day, as soon as you put your helmet on, you’re just like everybody else out there. So I don’t really think much about it… until after, obviously [laughs]. I’ve had a couple of guys be really upset [when they saw I was a girl] because they wouldn’t have expected to be beaten by me. What do you like most about driving those single-seater Formula cars? I don’t really know how to describe it, but the minute that you step into a car – any car – you only care about driving it. I just do it without thinking. If you were to put a GoPro camera up in the front of the car and point it straight at the driver, the footage will show a person that looks like as if they’ve zoned out. That’s how you feel when you’re driving – you’re completely just focused on where you’re going to go, and nothing else. Still, it’s physically and mentally demanding. How do you keep fit to cope with those demands? Four to five times a week of fitness training, that’s crucial. You’ve got to especially work your chest, shoulders, back, neck… I also do a lot of running (cardio) to keep my stamina up. I’ve got a mental coach and personal trainer.
But you can never be 100 per cent ready… it all comes down to the day. You can be super mentally and physically prepared and then before the race someone says something small to you, or you do something wrong, and that messes up your entire day. So you just have to go for it. So, what else are you into? I do train a bit in piloting – I fly helicopters sometimes. And I skateboard, surf a lot to relax away from racing, as well as scuba. I really love scuba because it’s a different world underneath there, it’s just relaxing, quiet... [Mum chimes in] She does modelling too. She’s a local celeb in Malaysia! NS: Yeah, well… women and motorsport always go together. You see the models on the sidelines… they complete the flashy package. So people came up to me and said I have to show that women in male-oriented sport can be feminine too. I don’t really mind it, it fuels and helps my racing career. Once in a while it’s cool to put on makeup. I actually have more male fans than female. Speaking of males… is there a boy-
It’s all about winning: Natasha Seatter.
friend in the picture at the moment? Let’s just leave it as I’m unavailable. Are you still in school? I stopped for about three years but I’ll be going back to study hopefully soon. For the first year I think I’ll try and study Business and Marketing, that sort of stuff, then I think I’ll go into Event Management, something to do with racing, events for racing… anything to do with racing! I’m guessing you weren’t like the other girls when you were younger… I used to go to school and feel ‘this is not where I’m supposed to be’. I was just one of those kids that did not like school, and every time I went out of the country I would feel relaxed, relief. I guess I was a troublemaker, a daredevil – if you ask me to do anything, I won’t think twice about doing it, I’ll just do it. What’s been your favourite track in the world to drive on so far? Macau’s street circuit. It’s fun. Basically you’re driving near walls and stuff… it’s very, very narrow. There’s no room for error. So who do you look up to in racing? I look up to Danica Patrick (American IndyCar and NASCAR driver), but not just for her racing, but the way she went about planning
and executing her racing career. And Ayrton Senna. After watching his movie I realised… it’s all about winning. He thought that basically if you don’t win then there’s no point being there. He looks like a very relaxed, fun, adventurous person. What’s your ultimate dream car to drive and/or race? I’d have to go with a BMW M3. There’s something about the car that makes it mysterious... you just want it. It’s precious [says this in the same way Gollum does in Lord of the Rings]. How would you describe yourself as a driver? I just want to be sat alone to do my own thing. I don’t really need people to tell me what to do because I obviously know already what I need to do and change. When I’m sitting in my car, I just block everything out as if I’m in a world where no one is around, just me. I wouldn’t say I’m a loner – I have my friends and I socialise and all that – but rather I’m very independent. You don’t seem to be afraid of anything… No, but OK, as a passenger, I’m freaked out. I don’t trust anyone driving. A funny thing my dad noticed I do when he’s driving is that my foot pretends to press the brakes when I want him to stop or slow down!