Ella Lloyd

Ella Mai Lloyd (born 20 July 2005) is a British racing driver from Wales who competes in F1 Academy and the F4 British Championship for Rodin Motorsport as part of the McLaren Driver Development Programme.

Lloyd came fourth in the 2025 F1 Academy season and was also runner-up in the 2023 Ginetta GT5 Challenge.

Career Early career Despite never competing in karting, Lloyd's first taste of motorsport came in 2018 when she was invited to take part in the FIA's Girls on Track Karting Challenge at Silverstone. She formally began her career four years later, in the 2022 Ginetta Junior Championship. Racing for Assetto Motorsport, she scored points in 15 of 25 races and recorded a best race finish of 11th.

In early 2023, Lloyd was chosen for the Motorsport UK Academy Futures program and moved up to the Ginetta GT5 Challenge with Xentek Motorsport. The season was an instant success, as she won on debut and picked up ten wins, ten pole positions and seventeen podiums, eventually finishing runner-up behind Luke Garlick.

Formula 4 2024 Lloyd made her single-seater debut in the 2024 Formula Winter Series, driving for Rodin Motorsport in two rounds. In her debut weekend she had her best qualifying time deleted for causing a red flag, which meant she started in 38th. She made up more than 30 positions over the three races, finishing in 21st, 20th, and 22nd. She improved to 18th in qualifying for the next round, but weather and contact marred her results in the races. Lloyd won the female trophy in three of the four races she finished.

Lloyd later joined JHR Developments for a full programme in British F4. Her debut came at Donington Park, where she finished eighth and seventh having notably overtaken the much more experienced Abbi Pulling. Lloyd's campaign took off in the fifth round at Silverstone, with three strong results including a maiden podium, where she followed teammate Leo Robinson through for a JHR 1–2. The pair repeated the feat at Knockhill, and Lloyd also returned to the rostrum at Donington, where she qualified a season-best 3rd in wet conditions, and Brands Hatch. Despite skipping the penultimate round, Lloyd finished 11th in the championship with 99 points.

On the tail end of the 2024 season, Lloyd competed in the first two rounds of the 2024 Formula Trophy UAE, where she picked up two best finishes of 17th.

2025 Lloyd placed fourth upon her second season in F1 Academy additionally she returned to the British F4 in 2025, switching to Rodin Motorsport in a dual campaign with F1 Academy campaign.

F1 Academy Lloyd's 2024 F1 Academy car in the paddock at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. In 2024, along with her British F4 commitments, Lloyd served as the wildcard entry in Round 5 of the all-female F1 Academy series at Singapore. Although mechanical issues limited her mileage in practice, Lloyd qualified eighth, a mere 0.111 off fourth place. She improved to sixth and seventh in both races, but a penalty for a false start demoted her to ninth in Race 1.

For the 2025 season, it was announced that Lloyd would be entering the series under Rodin Motorsport with support from McLaren, having joined the McLaren Driver Development Programme. In Round 1 at Shanghai, Lloyd qualified 11th. Though starting at the pitlane for Race 1, she managed to climb her way up to sixth place, and in Race 2 she finished in seventh. In Round 2 at Jeddah, she won her first F1 Academy race in the reverse grid Race 1. In Round 4 at Montreal, she finished all three races in second place. Lloyd finished in fourth in the drivers' championship and was the top-scoring rookie of the season.

Lloyd remained with Rodin Motorsport and McLaren for the 2026 season. She won her first podium of the season when she came in third in Round 3 at Silverstone for the reverse grid race.

Formula E In November 2024, Lloyd and McLaren's incumbent F1 Academy driver Bianca Bustamante joined the McLaren Formula E Team for the Formula E women's test that took place at Jarama in Madrid ahead of the 2024–25 season. Lloyd placed seventh overall at the test, a showing Gary Paffett described as "impressive". She participated in her second test session on 14 July 2025 again for McLaren at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit in Berlin. Ahead of the 2025–26 season, Lloyd was hired by Envision Racing for the women's test at Valencia, where she finished both the morning and afternoon sessions in fifth. Lloyd returned with Envision for the rookie test at Madrid.

Personal life Besides racing, Lloyd has also competed in skiing and show jumping. Her father, Chris Lloyd, is a former rally driver and competed in the 2018 Paralympics in alpine skiing.

Lloyd is managed by Greenlight Sports Management, an agency run by 2003 Le Mans winner Guy Smith and fellow sportscar racer Andy Meyrick.

Racing record

Racing career summary Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position 2022 Ginetta Junior Championship Assetto Motorsport 25 0 0 0 0 67 21st Ginetta GT5 Challenge - Pro Xentek Motorsport 3 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2023 Ginetta GT5 Challenge - Pro Xentek Motorsport 25 10 10 7 17 571 2nd 2024 Formula Winter Series Rodin Motorsport 5 0 0 0 0 0 41st F4 British Championship JHR Developments 26 0 0 0 4 99 11th F1 Academy Prema Racing 2 0 0 0 0 8 18th Formula Trophy UAE Xcel Motorsport 5 0 0 0 0 0 24th 2025 F1 Academy Rodin Motorsport 14 1 0 0 5 109 4th F4 British Championship 21 0 0 0 1 52 14th 2026 F1 AcademyRodin Motorsport 9 0 0 1 1 47 7th* F4 British Championship 6 0 0 0 0 20 20th* Season still in progress.

Complete Ginetta Junior Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 DC Points 2022 DON1 DON2 DON3 BHI1 BHI2 BHI3 THR11 THR12 CRO1 CRO2 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 THR21 THR22 THR23 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BHGP1 BHGP2 BHGP3 21st 67

Complete Formula Winter Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DC Points 2024 JER1 JER2 JER3 CRT1 CRT2 CRT3 ARA1 ARA2 ARA3 CAT1 CAT2 CAT3 41st 0

Complete F4 British Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 DC Points 2024 DPN1 DPN2 DPN3 BHI1 BHI2 BHI3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 THR1 THR2 THR3 SILGP1 SILGP2 SILGP3 ZAN1 ZAN2 ZAN3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 DPGP1 DPGP2 DPGP3 DPGP4 SILN1 SILN2 SILN3 BHGP1 BHGP2 BHGP3 BHGP3 11th 99 2025 DPN1 DPN2 DPN3 SILGP1 SILGP2 SILGP3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 SILGP1 SILGP2 ZAN1 ZAN2 ZAN3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 DPGP1 DPGP2 DPGP3 SILN1 SILN2 SILN3 BHGP1 BHGP2 BHGP3 14th 52 2026 DPN1 DPN2 DPN3 BHI1 BHI2 BHI3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 SILGP1 SILGP2 SILGP3 ZAN1 ZAN2 ZAN3 THR1 THR2 THR3 DPGP1 DPGP2 DPGP3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SILN1 SILN2 SILN3 BHGP1 BHGP2 BHGP3 20th* 20* Season still in progress.

Complete F1 Academy results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Season still in progress.

Complete Formula Trophy UAE results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DC Points 2024 Xcel Motorsport DUB1 DUB2 DUB3 YMC11 YMC12 YMC21 YMC22 24th 0