Katherine Legge reveals unfortunate story of her F1 dream 'going down the drain'

Part-time IndyCar and NASCAR driver Katherine Legge recently came out and detailed the story of her F1 test with the Minardi F1 team. The 45-year-old also revealed the shocking story of how the F1 dream went down the drain as the team was sold just months after her test.

Katherine Legge is one of the most prominent women in the world of motorsports after Danica Patrick. The British driver began her career in Europe in the junior Formula categories, before making her way to the US to race in Champ Car (now IndyCar).

Just after a few years in IndyCar as a part-time driver, Legge participated in multiple racing series across the globe, including DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters), IMSA Sportscar championship, WEC (World Endurance Championship), and NASCAR.

In 2005, Katherine Legge raced full-time in the Toyota Atlantic Championship for Polestar Racing Group and finished the season 3rd in the championship with 3 wins and 5 podiums in 12 races. Later that year, in November, Legge tested with the Minardi F1 team at Autodromo Vallelunga near Rome.

The 45-year-old featured on the recent episode of the WTF1 podcast, where the host questioned Legge about the 2005 Atlantic Championship and how her performance led to the Minardi F1 test. Sharing details about the test and what an F1 car was like to drive, the Briton said,

“It was awesome. It was very, very cool. I was not used to… Like the amount of technology that the cars had. I mean, the Indy Lights cars and the Atlantic cars back in the day are pretty rudimentary. It's like probably the last time you get blisters on your hands and you're fighting it the whole way around.” (10:15 onwards)

“It's (an F1 car) very refined and has a lot of driver aids, and it's very different. It's really cool. And so Paul Stoddard was thinking about putting me in that car for the next season, and then he sold it to Red Bull. So my F1 dreams and aspirations went down the drain,” added Katherine Legge

Paul Stoddard purchased Minardi in 2001, but the financial situation of the team always remained an issue, before the team was eventually sold to Red Bull, who rebranded it as Toro Rosso (now VCARB), which became Red Bull Racing's sister team.

Katherine Legge thanked the Minardi team owner after the F1 test

Under Paul Stoddard, Minardi gave debuts to multiple F1 talents, including the likes of Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber, who went on to become World Champions and race winners. Katherine Legge could've possibly been one of those who made their F1 debut with Minardi, but unfortunately, the team was sold before it could materialize.

Legge participated in a two-day test and crashed the car on the first day. However, the second day went much smoothly, as the Briton came out and thanked Paul Stoddard for the opportunity. She said,

“First of all, I want to say thank you to Paul Stoddart and all the guys at Minardi for their unstinting support over the last two days. It has been a fantastic experience, and they have been just absolutely great the whole time." (via Autosport)

"As for the test, I expected the unexpected, and that's what I got. It was certainly a lot easier today than yesterday, mainly because I was left alone to focus on what I had to do,” she added

Katherine Legge completed 27 laps with a best time of 1:21.176. The 45-year-old recently made her NASCAR Cup Series debut earlier this year at the Phoenix Raceway.