Photo of Las Vegas Grand Prix Pit Building exterior by We Fly Aerial Media

IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT

Meet the Women Driving Change at the Formula 1 Heineken Las Vegas Grand Prix 2025

BY STACEY GUALANDI / PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF F1 GRAND PRIX OF LAS VEGAS

As the Formula 1 Heineken Las Vegas Grand Prix starts revving its engine for the third annual trip around the Strip, the predominantly male sport has shifted into a new gear.

What makes this high-octane race stand out is the number of women in the driver’s seat. In other words, these ladies prefer not to stay in their lane.

“Our time has come in motorsport, and it is fantastic to see the commitment of my peers, colleagues and bosses — a lot of them who are ‘Boss Babes,'” said Lori Nelson-Kraft, senior vice president of corporate affairs for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Nelson-Kraft is just one of several high-profile female team members on and off the track, under the hood, behind the wheel and in the boardroom of F1 Las Vegas.

“I’d like to think it is coincidental, but I believe leadership starts at the top,” she said.

That pole position goes to trailblazer Emily Prazer. As both chief commercial officer of Formula 1 and president and CEO of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Prazer could easily take a “lap of honor” for helping to create the Las Vegas Strip Circuit and its subsequent success.

“It starts with having someone of influence with a seat at that table and someone who really has done an exceptional job of raising up the profile of women in this organization,” Nelson-Kraft said.

In 2023, Nelson-Kraft brought to the Las Vegas Grand Prix three decades of established, trusted relationships and deep knowledge of the intricacies of tourism and community events in the community, especially after her time with the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority.

“Emily very much wanted to demonstrate our investment in the local community and just needed someone with a deeper understanding to help connect those dots and bring it all together with a bow on top,” Nelson-Kraft said.

Nelson-Kraft oversees communications, government affairs and community engagement but admits she’s still getting up to speed on the twists and turns of motorsport.

“Growing up, my father taught me how to drive, and all the years he was in the car with me, he referred to me as Mario Andretti,” joked Nelson-Kraft of her lead foot.

“He always said that I had a career in racing, so what I find so ironic about how he always teased me is that, at the end of the day, I got a career in racing.”

Las Vegas Grand Prix’s vice president of sporting and race operations, Silvia Bellot, also likes to step on the gas.

As a young teenager in Spain, her father would often take her to the racetrack.

“I just absolutely loved the sport. I wanted to come with him after that to all the races,” Bellot said. “They didn’t let me do much — I was making copies and distributing documents — but for me, that was the most important thing I was doing.”

Bellot knew this was the sport for her, but she had to put the brakes on her dream of driving a race car.

“My parents were really supportive, but there was no clear pathway. There were no female role models that I could say, ‘Oh, I want to be like her, or if she can do it, I can do it,'” Bellot said.

Fortunately, the onetime lack of inclusivity of F1 is in the rearview.

Bellot is now a pioneer of the sport.

She went from teenage track marshal to Spain’s youngest female steward at 18. In 2011, she served her first race as a permanent steward in Formula 1 and went on to be the youngest person and first woman to serve as race director for the FIA Formula 2 and Formula 3 Championships in 2020.

Now in her third year at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Bellot’s drive to thrive has landed her dual roles alongside Emily Prazer.

“I’ve been so lucky,” Bellot said, referring to her work on all on-track and sporting-related activities. “I think breaking this glass ceiling was a challenge, but I couldn’t think of a better role to take on than race director for F1 Academy.”

F1 Academy is the all-female racing series that will train the next era of female racers to ascend to Formula 1.

This is the first year F1 Academy is in Las Vegas — the 2025 title championship will be decided there — and for the first time, there will be a who’s who of women-oriented sponsors, something that has never existed before.

F1 Academy driver Nicole Havrda says she started racing at 12 in go-karts.

“Growing up for me, there weren’t many races for girls, so having this series is super important because everyone sees us — big teams, big brands — it’s just trying to get another female to Formula 1, basically.”

Typically, Bellot said, “racing is one of the most demanding sports dominated by men, with women mostly on the hospitality side.” Now, F1 is one of the few sports where men and women compete against each other.

Bellot thinks greater attention to detail and the ability to go the extra mile are key skills helping women’s standings in the sport.

“[My male colleagues] are amazing, and they’re great with technical skills, and 100% we need them,” she said. “But even in the race operation department, the majority of colleagues are women, which is also very strange.”

Nelson-Kraft added, “The fast growth of the sport and its focus on the United States and here in North America has carved out an opportunity that, despite who you are, a lot of the best people are plucked because they’re just good at their positions. If it’s coincidentally a woman, make no mistake about it, they earned it.”

Both ladies agree that the Netflix series’ “Drive to Survive” and “F1: The Academy” and the feature film “F1” starring Brad Pitt are driving the sport’s popularity. Right now, approximately 42% of fans are women.

Bellot added that 26% of the newly selected marshals this year are women — a 15% increase compared with last year.

“So, imagine how much this is changing the sport and shaping the careers of future engineers, mechanics, drivers, etc.,” Bellot said.

With this strength in female numbers, the Las Vegas team isn’t spinning its wheels. Nelson-Kraft says community outreach is her number one priority.

“We struck up a partnership with the Girl Scouts, and it will be the first time I think an event has done anything like this,” Nelson-Kraft said. “That started with our CEO. She said, ‘I’d like the Girl Scouts to be at our event.'”

Young girls will now be selling and sampling their Girl Scout cookies in the Fan Zone and gifting cookies to Paddock Club guests.

“In addition to that, we’ll be doing a community activation with all the Girl Scouts who are onsite during the event for those three days, the F1 Academy and the female drivers,” Nelson-Kraft said. “This partnership will extend beyond just race week.”

Four hundred Clark County School District middle school students with a STEM background will also get exclusive behind-the-scenes access on “Community Day” with none other than seven-time world champion driver Sir Lewis Hamilton.

“So, when I say we have this platform and this real estate to really make a difference, we really do,” Nelson-Kraft said.

“I very much believe in this race — to see it sustain and remain an annual event. And for my employer, who has a heart of gold, to keep respecting the fact that our success partially is due to the local community who welcomed them, and the privilege we get to take over those streets and host a spectacular race.”

For Bellot, she credits motorsport for putting her on the right track.

“I was a very shy teenager and then being able to meet new people from different nationalities just completely shaped me as the woman I am today.”

While it took 14 years for another female to follow Bellot’s lead and achieve race director status, she has succeeded in setting a new course for the next generation.

“I just want one day for this not to be part of the news, that this will just be normal to have women all around Formula 1 and on the leadership level,” Bellot said.

Bellot, Prazer, Nelson-Kraft and all of their fellow female team members throughout the Las Vegas Grand Prix remain committed to going the distance, ensuring the sport’s continued growth across the country and reinforcing ties to the local community, no matter how long it takes to cross the finish line.

“I just want to give back to the sport because the sport has been really good to me,” Bellot added. “I hope I can be here for many, many more years.”