Lia Block was born to sit behind the wheel.
The 18-year-old is the daughter of late motorsport icon Ken Block and mom Lucy is a professional rally driver.
Lia has followed her parents into rally while also forging her own path in F1 academy with Williams, recently celebrating her first anniversary with the team.
Under Susie Wolff‘s watchful eye, the series gives female drivers experience, publicity, and a potential route into Formula One.
There is plenty of action on and off the track and Netflix has been filming a successor to its smash hit series Drive to Survive.
Lia had a film crew following her and thinks the incredible level of access given to the cameras will result in a brilliant spectacle for fans.
“We’ve seen everything that has been filmed with me, but I have no idea what’s been filmed for the other girls. So it’s going to be super interesting to see the behind the scenes for everybody else and see how the season really plays out.
“I do hope it has a lot of success because there’s quite a bit of drama in the behind the scenes. Maybe not as much as Drive to Survive, but I think it’s really cool that in the F1 Academy series, they have a lot more access to the drivers and the drivers’ lives, which will be really cool.
“Hopefully it can bring in some more young girls to the sport, just like Drive to Survive did to a lot of people.”
Lia has more than a million followers on Instagram and is no stranger to the spotlight.
But she admitted being filmed by a platform with almost 300million subscribers – 7million of whom watch Drive to Survive – led to some butterflies.
“I think it was definitely nerve-wracking in the beginning,” the teen told talkSPORT. “I think it didn’t ever feel real. I think it doesn’t feel real until it finally comes out.
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“Those big cameras, it’s kind of daunting when you’re trying to be in your zone at a racetrack and you have cameras following you around.
“But I think in the grand scheme of things, it’s going to be great for all the girls on the grid to get so much exposure on such a big streaming platform.
“I watch Netflix almost every day, so I can’t imagine how many people are going to see that. It’s definitely going to be crazy.
“I just really hope it reaches the right audience and maybe brings more light to what Susie and F1 Academy are doing. I think they’re pushing it in the right way.
“I’ve just seen so much, especially in the last year, of fan accounts pop up, female and motorsport accounts on Instagram. So I think they are really reaching a lot of people, but it’s just going to take time. Nothing happens overnight.
“The way that we’re going, if we just keep building on that, we can bring up so many more young girls and women in general into the world of motorsport, not even just driving.”
Around 46 percent of Drive To Survive’s viewers are female and the show is bringing a huge boost to F1 in the States.
Lia loved the controversial Miami International Autodrome circuit when the Academy headed there and Las Vegas – the host of this weekend’s F1 Grand Prix – has been added to the schedule for 2025.
The sport has a growing presence in the States, and Lia can’t see that momentum letting up any time soon.
“I think that bringing F1 and F1 Academy to such a big country that has such big of a fan base because of Drive To Survive, it’s really great.
“I know a lot of people hate on the Miami track, but personally, I really loved racing on it. And I mean, it created a bunch of opportunities for passing, when in F1 Academy its so hard to pass because you either have to be a second faster or have a big mistake from someone in front because we don’t have DRS.
“The atmosphere was great. I mean, the American fans are always super fun.”
“I know I’m biased about that,” she added with a smile before suggesting F1 has plenty more scope for expansion Stateside.
“I think so,” she said when asked if F1 could match NASCAR and the Indy 500 for popularity.
“Personally, I grew up watching F1. I don’t particularly enjoy watching NASCAR or follow it. I’ve started following IndyCar just a little bit.
“But for me, I don’t know much about those areas. So all I’ve ever seen is F1 and the growth of that in the US. The way that it’s grown so big in Europe and the rest of the world, I don’t see why it wouldn’t grow like that in the US.
“It’s great that we have three races here. I know people are mad about that sometimes, ‘Why don’t other places have more races?’
“I think it’s just going to get bigger and bigger.”
F1 academy heads to Qatar next weekend and Lia is aiming to finish her season on a high, with her plans for 2025 yet to be announced.
“It’s only been a year, but the amount of things I’ve done and amount of time I’ve spent with the team, it feels like way longer than that, which is great. My time has been amazing so far,” she explained.
“Everybody has been so helpful and so supportive through, this is my first year in single-seaters, so I have a lot to learn. But they’ve definitely helped me so much by giving me so much sim time.
“All the little points, giving me a sports psychologist, a nutritionist, a trainer. So there’s so many different little things, but it’s helped me so much in my driving which I’ve never had before in rally and the stuff I’ve done before.
“I would say Singapore was a big turning point for me. Everything’s clicking into place. All the learning and hard work has started to pay off. And we’ve seen that steady uphill climb.
“I’m hoping to keep that going. I was so close to a podium in Singapore, so maybe we can make that happen in either Qatar or Abu Dhabi.”
F1 is in a brilliant position with a diverse and growing fanbase, an increasing hold on the U.S. market, and a generation of young stars ready to take their turn in the spotlight.
Lia could very well play a huge role in that future.
