Lindsey Vonn Turned Down A Potential F1 Career? US Skiing Legend Recalls Red Bull Racing Offer

Last Updated:February 09, 2026, 10:58 IST

Lindsey Vonn nearly switched from skiing to motorsport -- testing GT and Formula Renault 3.5 cars with Red Bull -- but chose Olympic skiing over a full-time Formula 1 commitment.

Lindsey Vonn has dominated headlines once again after her dramatic outing at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Games.

But here’s a twist few people know: if a few things had gone differently earlier in her life, Vonn might not have been racing down mountains at all.

In fact, she could have been chasing apexes instead.

The 41-year-old American icon, a Red Bull athlete and the 2010 Olympic downhill gold medallist, has always had a need for speed that extended far beyond the slopes.

Long before her latest comeback, and even as she battled injuries that would end most careers, Vonn was flirting with a very different dream: motorsport.

And not casually.

As a previous Red Bull athlete, Vonn has tested cars across multiple disciplines, including GT machinery and Formula Renault 3.5. She’s driven flat-out on legendary circuits and famously pushed cars to their limits off-track too.

In a 2020 episode of In Depth with Graham Bensinger, she revealed just how close she came to a full-time switch into single-seater racing, with Formula 1 firmly in sight.

“I drove in Spielberg in Austria on the Formula 1 track," Vonn recalled. “Another time, on the autobahn, we went 130mph. I was with Maria Höfl-Riesch, driving her Audi R8.

“There’s a good stretch south of Munich where there’s no speed limit, and she was like, ‘Come on, Lindsey, you’re not going very fast.’ Of course, I had to show her what was up."

On track, though, things got serious quickly.

“But on the racing track, we went much faster. I had a tendency to go a little too fast in the corners, and I would spin out," she admitted with a laugh.

Her Red Bull backing meant a pathway into motorsport was very real. What stopped it wasn’t talent; it was the cost of commitment.

“I was thinking about switching to Formula 1 and trying to be a driver," Vonn said. “But I couldn’t because they wanted me to fully commit to three years. They were like: ‘You can’t get pregnant, and you can’t do anything.’

“And I’m like, ‘I don’t know if I really want to do that.’"

It was a line she wasn’t willing to cross. Skiing remained her calling.

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