F1 Academy Podium Finisher Aurelia Nobels Signs With Hillspeed For GB3
Podium finishing F1 Academy driver Aurelia Nobels is making the move from the Grand Prix-supporting category into the world of GB3 Championship partnered by the BRDC racing for the 2026 season, having today signed with top team Hillspeed.
In a very exciting development for both driver and team, 19-year-old Nobels – who was born in Boston, USA, and has Brazilian, Belgian and American heritage – will bring two years’ worth of experience from the high-profile F1 Academy series where she competed as part of the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy.
Now, she makes the step-up into the incredibly competitive GB3 Championship with Markham Vale-based multiple category race winners Hillspeed, the UK’s premier single-seater championship and a leading feeder series for the FIA F3 Championship.
Beginning her motorsport career in the ranks of karting in Brazil at the age of 10, Nobels made the move into single-seater car racing in 2022 in the F4 Brazilian Championship, taking a best race finish of eighth, and also made one-off appearances in both the F4 Spanish Championship and F4 Danish Championship.
After winning the senior category in the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission’s ‘Girls On Track – Rising Stars’ programme in late 2022, Nobels was awarded a place in the coveted Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy. During 2023, she gained further F4 experience in Italian F4, Euro 4, F4 UAE and British F4.
Graduating to F1 Academy with Ferrari’s support in 2024, the talented youngster ended the Formula One supporting category’s second season 12th in the driver standings with a best race result of fifth position. In her sophomore F1 Academy campaign last year, Nobels claimed her maiden series podium with third position in the opening race of the final round at Las Vegas street circuit in Nevada, USA.
Richard Ollerenshaw – Hillspeed Team Principal:
“Having the opportunity to bring Aurelia into our GB3 team for 2026 is a very exciting development for Hillspeed. We’ve worked with a number of talented female drivers over the years, and so we’re delighted to have signed Aurelia for her step-up into GB3. It will be a major learning curve, with a significant increase in power and aero from what she has been used to, but we’re sure she’ll adapt well.
“After two years racing in the F1 Academy, and the experience she has gained within the Ferrari Driver Academy itself, we have high hopes for Aurelia’s maiden season racing full-time in GB3 and we can’t wait to get underway with official pre-season testing this week.”
Aurelia Nobels:
“I’m really happy to be joining Hillspeed for my first season in GB3 and I’m grateful to the team for the trust they’ve placed in me. It’s a big step forward in my career and I’m excited to be moving up to one of the most competitive categories to transition to F3 and work with such an experienced and successful team. It’s going to be a big challenge to learn a lot of new tracks but I’m really motivated for the season ahead and looking forward to working closely with the team to push for strong results.”
Hillspeed expects to confirm the third and final driver signing for its GB3 Championship team in due course. Officially timed pre-season testing commences tomorrow, Tuesday, 10th March, at Snetterton 300 Circuit in Norfolk with the new season itself beginning at Northamptonshire’s Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit over the weekend 25th/26th April.
