Saudi Arabia's first female professional Formula race car driver Reema Juffali looked back at her debut season at the British F3 Championship with pride, calling it a great learning curve in her motorsport career.
Juffali's season concluded at the final round of the championship at Donington Park, where the Jeddah-born driver battled hard but was unable to finish the first race due to a collision. However, she achieved 15th and 18th places respectively in the final two races.
Having come up against some of the sport’s most promising drivers during the season which included her best-ever finish of fourth position, Juffali feels she has made significant progress.
Juffali said: “My driving has improved so much in 2021. My confidence has grown and I can now adapt faster to changing situations while also understanding what I need to do in the car for optimal on-track performance and the importance of making the right calls while competing.
“I’ve gained so much experience this year and of course, the team at Douglas Motorsport has been really supportive, giving me the right help and advice that I needed to take those crucial steps forward in my driving career.”
Juffali competed in seven of the eight rounds of the British F3 Championship, 21 races in total, including six races at the iconic Silverstone track.
Although she narrowly missed the podium, Juffali insists the high level of the competition provided a great learning curve which will help her to become an even better driver in the future.
She said: “During this season, I had my ups and downs and had good races which I can look back on. There were times when I could completely focus on my race and what I needed to do rather than looking behind me.
“Also, learning from my mistakes was crucial — some were simply unlucky but there were a few where I felt I had made the wrong choice, so I have learnt from the good and the bad.”
She added: “The tracks were very demanding and these challenges enabled me to make better decisions. When you have a bad day, which I had plenty of, I now know how to pick myself up and turn it around.”
Juffali, who will fly back to Saudi Arabia mid-November, said she has already started planning for next season.
She said: “It was emotional end to the season. I spent more time with my team this year than with my friends and family and I really appreciate all the hard work they put in — we made a great team. It was a difficult goodbye, but motorsport is a small world and I’m sure I’ll be bumping into them again.”
