Racing suit on, helmet strapped in and ready to take on the track- that is how you will often find 11-year-old karting sensation Atiqa Mir. The young Indian racer is determined to break stereotypes and carve her own path in motorsport.
Already competing against older and more experienced drivers on the international circuit, Atiqa has shown that age and gender are no barriers once she gets behind the wheel. “Honestly, I don’t think about the other drivers when I’m driving,” she says. “I just focus on myself and I think that every kart is just a number. That’s how I drive every weekend.”
That simple mindset has driven rapid progress. Atiqa has emerged as one of India’s most promising young racing talents competing across Europe and the Middle East. In 2026, she became the first Indian to secure a podium in the European leg of the Champions of the Future Academy. She followed it up with a dominant performance in Greece, completing a clean sweep of qualifying, the heats and the final to become only the third driver in the series’ history to achieve the feat. The victory was especially impressive because it came a day after a crash.
“I was running second and then I crashed,” she said. “So on Sunday I knew I had the potential to win and in the end, I did. It shows how important mindset after a low result is to come back even stronger.”
She has since become the youngest Indian to record two top-10 finishes in the FIA European Karting Championship. She is also the first Asian female racer selected for the Formula 1 Academy’s Discover Your Drive programme. Despite the growing list of achievements and accolades, Atiqa’s approach to racing remains simple. Once she is inside the kart, she drives fearlessly even at speeds of around 100 km/h.
“If a driver has fear, then they wouldn’t be driving, because there are so many things that could go wrong in racing,” Atiqa said. “You’ve just got to focus on the driving and everything will sort itself out.” That fearless approach is something she shares with her favourite driver, four-time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen.
“I think his [Verstappen’s] aggression is amazing on track, especially in 2024 when we saw Norris also in the championship fight,” she said. “Also, his ability to drive the car when it’s not the quickest is just astonishing.” Asked what she would most like to learn from Verstappen, her answer is direct: “To be aggressive and to drive fast and adapt even when the car isn’t perfect.”
Verstappen finished on the podium last weekend at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and is currently sixth in the drivers’ standings. But Atiqa does not expect her idol to win the championship this year. “I think Kimi Antonelli will win because currently on the 2026 F1 grid, he is really fast and he can win.”
Atiqa’s ultimate dream is to reach Formula 1, and despite already gaining recognition at such a young age, she says she does not feel any pressure. “No, there’s no pressure because I always focus on trying my best every single race weekend and I just think about stuff happening in the moment, but obviously, my long-term goal is to reach Formula 1,” she said.
For now, she is taking it one race at a time. But the girl from Kashmir has her eyes firmly set on Formula 1.