Monisha Kaltenborn

Austrian lawyer who became the first woman to serve as a Formula One team principal, leading Sauber from 2012 to 2017

Monisha Kaltenborn

Austrian lawyer who became the first woman to serve as a Formula One team principal, leading Sauber from 2012 to 2017

Born in Dehradun in India, Monisha Kaltenborn moved to Vienna as a child and took Austrian citizenship. She studied law at the University of Vienna and international business law in London, working for United Nations bodies while still a student and later for law firms in Stuttgart and Vienna.

She joined Sauber to run its corporate and legal affairs, sat on its management board from 2001 and became chief executive in 2010. In May 2012 Peter Sauber gave her a third of the team, and that October he made her team principal, making her the first woman to hold the post in Formula One. She left the team on the 22nd of June 2017. A lawyer who could read the fine print was always going to be useful in a sport made of it.

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