Katrina Ee Interview
Q. You started racing at just seven years old. When most kids were learning to ride a bicycle, you were already learning race lines. What’s your earliest memory of realizing you weren’t just driving, you were meant to race?
Yeah, my first memory I feel like of me knowing that I was meant to race and compete professionally was when I started off officially racing at nine. When I did my first race at nine, I raced in the Rotex championship in Asia and that's when I really told myself I wanted to make it further and I wanted to continue to work hard and move up to international championships, world championships and eventually move out and get to travel around the world and race.
That's when I knew that I wanted to make this a professional career of mine and I'm very grateful that my parents have supported me in making it this far and I will continue to work hard.
Q. Moving from Asia to Europe meant adapting to faster karts, colder weather, and tougher competition. What’s one thing that surprised you most about racing abroad, on or off the track?
I think one thing that surprised me from racing abroad would be the different weather conditions. In Asia, it's very hot and humid. If it were to rain, it would rain really hard once and then it would be very sunny again.
But in the UK and Europe, or mostly in the UK, I find that the rain can come off any time and it could start to rain super hard and it could literally be light rain like two minutes later.
I think I knew that with this sort of weather condition, there's a reason why many drivers from the UK are able to compete at a high level because they're used to adapting to different weather conditions. So I think as a driver, I was able to develop that.
Q. The transition to car racing with the Ginetta Junior Championship is a major leap. What’s been the biggest difference between karting and car racing that nobody warned you about?
I think one thing that nobody warned me about from making a major leap from karting to genetics is I've been told a lot that the car might feel a bit loose or a bit hard to drive, which I thought was a big thing that I had to implement in my driving to adapt.
So I think one thing would be, maybe just how the car feels. It's very, very different to how a kart feels, in which you feel lots of grip in the front and in a go-kart, depending on what's your driving style and how you would like it to be.
But in a genetic car, everything is basically the same, as in every driver has the same engine power and it's all just the car setup. You can only do so much that no matter what, the car will still feel very slidey out of the corner or feel a bit more sensitive. It's all about carrying the minimum and high speed around the corner and, trying to work around it.
I think now when I stepped up into genetics, I realised that learning how to feel the car is very important and learning how to control the car if anything were to happen.
Q. You’ve spoken about wanting to become the first female Formula One driver in the current era. When you visualize that moment — helmet off, podium lights flashing — what emotion do you think would take over first?
I think that feeling of the podium and, getting out of a race and winning and having all of the amazing feels of winning or having a great result is I feel like, I'm very proud of the people around me who have supported me and have taught me so much and also myself the most because, not every weekend is the easiest weekend.
Sometimes you might have ups and downs and when you have a really good weekend, your confidence boosts a lot and with that I feel like I get my confidence, I can take on a lot because I know that I was able to do it and I have the potential. So yeah, I feel like I will always be proud of myself because another day I work so hard just to and I will continue to work hard just so I can make sure I am at the top and I always will have the best results possible.
Q. You juggle being a teenager and a professional athlete, two worlds that couldn’t be more different. How do you stay grounded between race weekends, school, and social life?
One thing that makes me stay grounded and try to balance my life as someone who also does online school, and is a normal teenager, but also, fully committed to being a racing driver, is I try to just set time management and make sure I have my priorities throughout the day.
I'm a person who likes to go to the gym early in the morning, then get my school-work or any other thing I have to do more in the afternoon to evening, just because I like to set some goals throughout the day where I have to complete what I need to do that is important. I feel like I learned throughout the years to prioritize my time and make sure that I manage the time that I have for racing and then manage my time for cards for school work.
I think when you have that mindset you are able to prioritize things and make sure you know what to do at every moment is very important. So when I also have time, I can also spend time with my family and also be a normal teenager and get to live that life, but also be a racing driver, which is the best of both worlds.
Q. Racing demands speed, strategy, and self-belief. When the helmet comes off, what part of that racer mindset still shows up in your everyday life?
Yeah, I mean, I think the one thing I say that I have even in my everything, my everyday life, even though I'm not racing, is I'm also a very competitive person. So if I were to get something, I want to get it first. So I would want to do things quickly.
When I'm at the gym, I want to make sure I have my gym training, I take it seriously. And I think one thing I like to do even outside is maybe I take things seriously. I make sure that I put in the effort that I have for school as well, or for something that is important.
I think that's another thing that is a racing driver quality that I put into my normal life, which can have some good and bad to it. But yeah, I think that's a few things that I would say.
Q. You’ve already made history as a four-time Asian Karting Champion. What’s one race that didn’t end in a trophy but taught you something no win ever could?
So back in 2023, I was still in the junior category in Asia. I was carding back then. There was a race called the APMC, which is the long-form term.
It's the Asia-Pacific Championship, which it's a carding championship where everyone from Asia or outside of Asia competes in a track. That weekend, it was my home track, which was the Sepang International Card Circuit in Malaysia. And Australian drivers and many other drivers came over and were able to compete.
And during that race, during the final, unfortunately, I started P5 and my goal was to make it to the podium, or obviously to win. But then I got T-boned into the second corner in the very first part of the start of the race, (0:52) which is very unfortunate. It wasn't my fault.
The car behind me just purposely tried to push me and make sure I didn't end up finishing the race, which that insult made me feel very unhappy with how it ended because it was a big race and I wanted to perform well. But unfortunately, things don't end the way you would want it sometimes. So, I think that's one race that didn't end in a trophy, but I learned so much.
I learned that, as a girl, especially in that race, I was the only girl in that race and then everyone wants to beat you and you just have to be very strong and committed to everything.
Q. As the 2024 MAM Young Driver of the Year, your journey is still accelerating. What’s the next curve you’re most excited, or nervous, to take professionally?
Earlier this year, I was presented with an award for the 2024 MAM Young Driver of the Year. I was super grateful that Malaysia Ministries of Sports believed in me and they know that I was able to do and get good results for a reason and I will continue to push hard to represent Malaysia around the world and I'm very excited for my next step. I just ended my last race in Le Mans two- three weeks ago and I'm back in Hong Kong now and I am excited to see what I've got for 2026.
I'm not really sure of the exact plans yet, but I'm very excited to see what I've got and what's to come. I'm still resetting and I'm working hard behind the scenes to make sure I'm prepared for what I've got next. I would love to race in the single seeders and eventually make it to F1 Academy.
That's a big goal of mine just before getting up to F1 which is a really big goal and I will not let that affect me because I really want to make it up there in the sport in Formula One and I will continue to work hard for it. I think a big goal of mine is to get in single seeders, eventually get to F1 Academy which I would love to see myself in. It's a big goal of mine and I'll be very grateful to represent myself and to see what I've got.
Q. A fun one. If your kart had a personality, what kind of racer would it be: the perfectionist, the rebel, or the silent assassin?
I feel like if my cart had a personality, it would for sure be the perfectionist or someone that is able to work around problems because I feel like I'm a person who wants to make sure everything is perfect and if one little thing goes wrong throughout a test session, I already start to feel like it wasn't great and I would get a bit upset about it.
So I feel like I'm a person who wants to make sure everything is perfect and I prepare and I can plan well before race weekend and I think that's me and also being an aggressive one too. I've learnt how to be more aggressive even since I started racing in the UK.
I've become more aggressive in a good way where I know when to defend. I know when to have to be a little bit more dirty to people because sometimes that's how it is in the sport. You have to be brutal and tough, you know, with your other competitors.
So yeah, I think that's one thing I would say is the perfectionist and you could say the aggressive one which is pretty good.
Bio:
Katrina Ee is a 15-year-old Hong Kong–Malaysian racing driver and one of Asia’s most exciting young talents in motorsport. She began karting at just seven years old and quickly rose through the ranks, earning her first win at nine and securing multiple championship titles soon after. In 2023, she became a triple Asian karting champion, cementing her status as a standout competitor in a male-dominated sport.
In 2024, Katrina moved to Europe to take on tougher international competition, demonstrating resilience, ambition, and a relentless drive to grow. She is one of only six global drivers—and the only Asian, selected for the prestigious More Than Equal Female Driver Development Programme, co-founded by David Coulthard.
Katrina will race in the 2025 Ginetta Junior Championship, marking her official step from karting into race cars. With her sights set firmly on becoming the first female Formula One driver of the current era, she aims not only to excel on track but also to inspire and represent young girls across the world.
Interviewed by: Divya Darshini
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