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Ivonn Simeonova is an Austrian Formula 4 driver who won back-to-back karting titles before stepping into single-seater racing with the support of More Than Equal’s female driver development programme. She is fourteen years old and already has a plan: Formula 1, no Plan B.

EARLY YEARS

Born on August 26, 2010, and raised in Vienna, Simeonova comes from a family with motorsport in its DNA [1]. Her father competed in Formula Easter and her grandmother raced in rallies [2]. She sat in a kart for the first time at age five — “Mit fünf saß ich das erste Mal im Kart,” as she put it herself — and the direction of her life was more or less settled from there [2].

The path was not straightforward. After her second year of primary school in Austria, her family relocated to Bulgaria. She later spoke about missing her Austrian friends and the racetrack that had been close by. About three and a half years later, she returned to Austria without her parents and moved in with her aunt [2]. It was her father who had set her on this road; she has said he wanted to “finish with me what he started,” drawing a direct line between his own motorsport background and her career [2]. Her aunt became the practical engine of her racing life — driving her to races, managing her social media, and keeping the logistics of a young driver’s schedule running [2].

OTHER INTERESTS

When a journalist asked Simeonova about hobbies outside racing, she waved off the question [2]. That tells you something. Racing is not a hobby that competes with other hobbies; for her, it is simply the thing.

EARLY SUCCESS

Simeonova’s karting record is the kind that gets you noticed. In 2023, she won the Austrian national karting championship in the Junior class [2]. She came back in 2024 and did it again, taking the Austrian series title a second time and adding the Central European regional series to her collection [2]. Two years of karting competition, two national titles, and a regional crown — by the time she was thirteen, the résumé already had substance.

More Than Equal, the programme focused on identifying and developing elite female racing talent, selected her for its driver development support [3]. In March 2026, she tested Formula 4 machinery at the programme’s Wales camp at Pembrey on March 30 and 31 [3]. Her Formula 4 debut followed later in 2026 in the F4 Central European Zone Championship, where she raced at Most for the first time in single-seaters, qualifying 11th in her debut session and finishing 22nd in Race 2 and 19th in Race 3 [4]. At the Brno round in September 2026, racing with Mathilda Racing, she scored her first F4 CEZ championship points — four of them — and sat 40th in the overall standings after the event [5].

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

• 2023: Won the Austrian national karting championship, Junior class [2].
• 2024: Won the Austrian karting series title for a second consecutive year and claimed the Central European regional karting series [2].
• 2026: Made her Formula 4 debut in the F4 CEZ at Most, qualifying 11th in her first single-seater qualifying session [4].
• 2026: Scored her first F4 CEZ championship points at Brno, in only her second car-racing weekend [5].

INSPIRATIONS

The influences closest to her are the ones already in her family. Her father’s background in Formula Easter and her grandmother’s rally career are the reference points she grew up with [2][6]. She has described her father’s role in her career not just as support but as something unfinished that they are completing together [2].

Her views on the sport’s gender dynamics are direct. In a 2024 interview, when a journalist used the phrase “female and male competitors,” she corrected the wording to simply “competitors” [2]. In the same year, she told The Straits Times: “I think we need more girls in Formula One and in motor sport because we are all equal. And, I mean, we should get the same chances” [7]. She also acknowledged the structural work still to be done: “The No. 1 aim is Formula One, of course. And I think it’s really good that we did this programme here to, like, bring the girls far enough that they can compete at the level that the boys do” [7].

REPUTATION

Motorsport outlet Racers Behind the Helmet noted that Simeonova made an encouraging first impression in her F4 debut at Most, running inside the top ten during her first qualifying session [4]. More Than Equal has identified her as part of its cohort of elite female racing talent and included her in its 2026 Formula 4 development testing at Pembrey [3]. She is listed as an active F4 CEZ driver on the championship’s official driver roster [8].

FUTURE GOALS/PLANS

The goal has never been ambiguous. As of September 2024, she was already on record saying Formula 1 was her only Plan A [2]. By April 2026, she had sharpened it further, expressing her ambition to become a Formula One World Champion [9]. She is currently competing in the F4 CEZ with Mathilda Racing, with no verified announcement yet of her plans beyond the 2026 season [5][8].

References:

[1] DriverDB — Ivonn Simeonova
[2] ÖAMTC auto touring, “Nachwuchs-Motorsport in Österreich”
[3] More Than Equal — Wales Camp 2026
[4] Racers Behind the Helmet — F4 CEZ: Female drivers secure personal best at Most
[5] Auto-Kart — Ivonn Simeonova at Brno
[6] LAOLA1 — Alex Wurz: Mädchen und Buben können gleich schnell fahren
[7] The Straits Times, “Young female drivers take aim at Formula One’s male monopoly”
[8] F4 CEZ — Drivers
[9] E.ON — Inspiring the next generation and supporting a rising F4 talent