Irish-Australian Carol Armstrong has an extensive journey in motorsport officiating, travelling the world as she learns and leads as part the sports volunteer officials community.

Irish by birth, Armstrong is now an Australian citizen and has volunteered at over 50 Formula One races in multiple continents, including Europe, Asia and North America. Closer to home, she remains involved in all aspect of motorsport including the Supercars Championship, Bathurst 6 Hour, Bathurst 12 Hour, grassroots motorkhanas, rallies, karting, and MotoGP events.

Carol was introduced to the world of motorsport through her father Philip Armstrong, an active member of the Irish rallying community. Armstrong and her brother Neil were also competitive in karting, which Carol began at the age of 12 until her retirement from competition six years later.

Rarely far from a racetrack, Carol maintained her involvement in motorsport as a mechanic and began officiating in Ireland across various spaces such as marshalling, scrutineering, administration, race control, and rescue.

After crossing the pond in 2003, Armstrong maintained her commitment to officiating and through her international and local counterparts, she then transitioned into officiating at events abroad.

Armstrong is buoyed by the amount of opportunities available to officials in Australia, offering numerous ways for volunteers to get involved with the sport.

“I think I’m on my 56th, 57th Grand Prix in Formula One now, and what I love about Australia is that we as officials have lots of windows to participate in officiating,” Armstrong said.

“We’re very well looked after, we have a lot of training available to us, and all these benefits go to devoting yourself and be better, and still, I’ve just been doing as much as possible to continue to make myself better as an official.

“I do pit lane, I do grid, I’ve been paddock chief, I have done scrutineering, I’ve done starter, I have done track and I’ve also done flags to mentor young and new officials, no matter what age or experience.

“When they would come on track, I love to meet that person, mentor them, shadow them, and give them the confidence to make that jump into officiating, and then, hopefully, we see them return.”

A milestone in Armstrong’s officiating career was receiving the 2024 FIA Outstanding Official of the Year Award at the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile’s (FIA) 120th Anniversary celebrations in Kigali, Rwanda.

Armstrong became the 14th Motorsport Australia official to be honoured by the FIA since the award’s inception in 2011.

Armstrong reiterated the importance of starting from and continuing to officiate at the grassroots level.

“It can be quite daunting, I guess, at that start, you may not necessarily know what to do, but plenty of people are willing to help,” Armstrong added.

“I have a lot of young girls who ask me what the best way is to get into officiating, and I always tell them it is so important to start with your local clubs.

“As much as Drive to Survive [documentary] has increased people’s interest in officiating, everybody wants to go straight to F1, and I’ve said at numerous talks here and internationally, that you need to start small. You need to support your local team or club.

“Find your ASN, reach out to Motorsport Australia, get your officials licence, and just get involved. It can be a life-changing decision.”

Head to Motorsport Australia’s website to become an official and join the growing community of 12,000+ officials nationwide.