Lauren Forrow is the woman behind the scenes building the infrastructure to get female drivers to Formula 1. As Head of Driver Development at More Than Equal, she’s orchestrating one of the most ambitious plans in motorsport: finding and training the first female F1 World Champion.

EARLY YEARS

Forrow built her foundation in sports science, earning a First-Class degree in Sports Science and a Distinction in MSc Applied Sports Physiology from the University of Brighton. She’s also an accredited UK Anti-Doping official, which tells you everything about her commitment to clean, legitimate high-performance sport. Before motorsport ever entered the picture, she spent 13 years working across various elite sports, cutting her teeth in the pressure-cooker environments of Olympic and international competition.

OTHER INTERESTS

Her career has been defined by a passion for building pathways where none existed before. Forrow served as Vice President on the board of Netball France, helping to elevate the sport’s profile in a country where it was barely on the radar. In 2021, she was instrumental in launching Netball France’s branding with Flyhawk kit, calling it “the first of many exciting developments to raise the profile and the performance level of netball in France.” She’s also a mother—expecting her first child in January 2024—and has been vocal about athletes not feeling pressured to delay motherhood for their careers, pointing to five GB Cycling riders who successfully returned to racing after having children.

EARLY SUCCESS

Forrow worked in performance and operational roles in Netball and Bobsleigh before joining British Cycling in 2018. At the British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association, she held the role of Performance Programme Manager and later Performance Assistant, contributing directly to Olympic medal-winning programs. Her work focused on identifying young bobsleigh prospects and developing them from novices into international athletes—a skill set that translates perfectly to motorsport’s talent pipeline challenges. By the time she moved to British Cycling, she’d already proven she could build athletes from scratch in sports where the margin for error is millimeters and milliseconds.

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

• 2018: Joined British Cycling, where she headed up Operations for the Great Britain Cycling Team as part of the senior leadership team, responsible for the delivery of performance programs.
• 2018-2023: Created the “City Academies” programme at British Cycling, which brought new diversity to the talent pathway and helped secure funding for grassroots development.
• 2023: Spoke at the Sport Performance Summit as Head of Performance Operations for British Cycling, discussing operational excellence in elite sport environments.
• 2025: Moved from consultant to full-time Head of Driver Development at More Than Equal, replacing Tom Stanton after his promotion to CEO.
• 2025: Oversaw the transition of five rising female talents from karting into single-seater racing through More Than Equal’s global driver development programme, calling it “one of the most critical and challenging phases in any racing career.”

INSPIRATIONS

Her approach is rooted in data, diversity, and systemic change. At British Cycling, Forrow championed diversity initiatives that fundamentally changed who had access to elite sport. The City Academies programme aimed to “change the face of cycling locally” by opening doors to communities traditionally locked out of the sport. She’s carried that philosophy into motorsport, where More Than Equal uses coaching from Hintsa Performance, racing in Ginetta cars, and a structured pathway designed to prepare drivers for the highest levels of competition. Forrow has repeatedly emphasized that the program isn’t just about finding fast drivers—it’s about building a high-performance environment that gives female racers every advantage their male counterparts have had for decades.

REPUTATION

In the motorsport world, Forrow is respected for bringing elite-sport rigor to a field that’s been largely disorganized when it comes to female driver development. She’s known for her no-nonsense approach and her ability to translate lessons from Olympic sports into racing. Her background in bobsleigh and cycling—both sports with grueling physical demands and high-stakes performance standards—gives her credibility in the paddock. She’s been featured at industry conferences like the Deloitte Shared Services Conference, where she discussed how diversity drives performance and how data reveals hidden talent. More Than Equal’s partnership with Teamworks in 2025 further solidified her reputation as someone building a world-class operation, not just a well-intentioned program.

FUTURE GOALS/PLANS

Forrow’s mission is clear: build the infrastructure that produces the first female Formula 1 World Champion. As of 2025, she’s leading More Than Equal’s driver development efforts with a grassroots-focused, long-term strategy. The organization is training female drivers in sportscars like the Ginetta G40 and providing them with the same level of support—mental coaching, physical conditioning, technical training—that top male drivers receive from childhood. It’s not about shortcuts; it’s about closing the gap systematically. Given that the last woman to race in F1 was Lella Lombardi in 1976, Forrow isn’t promising miracles tomorrow—but she’s building the pipeline that could finally change the narrative. And she’s doing it with the kind of operational precision that wins Olympic medals.

REFERENCES

[1] More than Equal promotes Tom Stanton to CEO – Blackbook Motorsport
[2] Where will the next female F1 driver come from? – Raceteq
[3] The Quest for a Female F1 Champion: More Than Equal Partners with Teamworks
[4] Lauren Forrow – Performance Institute – Leaders in Sport
[5] Lauren Forrow – Deloitte Shared Services Conference 2025
[6] More than Equal: A global high-performance motorsport programme – Irish Motorsports News
[7] Rapha Foundation: Dream Academy – Rouleur
[8] Netball France launch Flyhawk kit – The Netball Show
[9] Athletes Should Not Feel they Have to Delay Motherhood – Leaders in Sport
[10] More Than Equal Welcomes Five Rising Talents to Global Driver Development Programme – Motorsport.co.za