Léa Frentzen (25) is a die-hard Formula 1 enthusiast, but this wasn’t always the case. In fact, she used to have no interest in the sport, and her father, former Formula 1 driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen, never tried to push her in that direction. It wasn’t until 2023 that they attended a Grand Prix together, where she witnessed a tense reunion between her father and his old rival, Mika Häkkinen.
Creating TikTok videos about her father coincided with the development of her passion for Formula 1. At the karting track in Huizen, the Netherlands, Léa Frentzen speaks about the sport like a seasoned expert. However, despite having a former Formula 1 driver as a father, her passion was not instilled from an early age. “My parents never tried to push us in that direction (Léa has two younger sisters) and deliberately kept us out of the media because they wanted us to lead a normal life,” says Léa. “I was born and raised in Monaco, where we lived in a sort of bubble. My father only spoke about his Formula 1 career if we asked about it, but I was never interested.”
It was only later in life that Léa began to understand all the commotion surrounding her father. She started dating Floris from Utrecht, the Netherlands, a passionate Formula 1 enthusiast and loyal supporter of Max Verstappen. Her friends also followed the sport, which gradually sparked Léa’s interest. “It’s so cool that my father did this job. That’s when I thought: my father should take me to a race, because I was there as a child, but I don’t remember it.”
‘Who is this man?’
Initially, Heinz-Harald Frentzen was reluctant to attend. However, in 2023, they ended up visiting the Grand Prix at Silverstone together. “He felt like he didn’t belong there anymore, but people still remembered him well. We sat with Beat Zehnder, the team manager of Sauber, when my father drove for the team in 1994,” Léa recalls. Yet, her father’s feeling of being out of place wasn’t entirely unfounded. During his Formula 1 career, his facial hair was limited to distinctive sideburns. Now, he sports a full beard, with visible grey patches. “Mika Häkkinen was giving an interview when my father interrupted him. Mika looked surprised and exclaimed: ‘Who is this man?’ It was funny because they were big rivals in the past. My father explained who he was, and only after five minutes did Mika finally realize who he was talking to,” Léa laughs. “They were very happy to see each other again.”
