Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

The Winning Formula

Rate this book
An engineer looking to prove herself. A driver in need of a comeback. One race season to win it all…

Sienna Skye is a race engineer at GreenSkye Racing, one of the top F1 teams, crunching the critical data so their drivers perform their best on the racetrack. As one of the few female engineers in the sport, she’s determined to show everyone she’s capable of winning a championship for her team.

Finn Di Santis is a driver whose steely determination and killer instincts used to win him Grand Prixes and racing contracts. Now, he’s scraping by at the bottom of the leaderboard with only his charm keeping the sponsors happy. All Finn has ever wanted is to race, but his dream might come to an end if he doesn’t start winning.

When an opportunity arises for them to compete together this season, it could be Sienna’s biggest career moment and Finn’s chance at the comeback of his life. With the cameras and pressure on them, the race is on for Sienna and Finn to fall into sync and bring home victory. As their reluctant partnership turns into something more complicated, Sienna and Finn begin to wonder if there’s more at stake here than their careers. If they can learn to trust each other, they could be the perfect equation to winning it all. But can they make it through the season with their hearts intact?

Audible Audio

Published March 3, 2025

24 people are currently reading
221 people want to read

About the author

Cara Veloce

2 books11 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
221 (17%)
4 stars
461 (37%)
3 stars
440 (35%)
2 stars
89 (7%)
1 star
22 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 193 reviews
17 reviews
March 16, 2025
It's a crime to make me like an Australian male love interest
Profile Image for Han.
51 reviews9 followers
March 17, 2025
Did I know going in that this free audiobook was essentially a Danny Ric fanfic?

No.

Did I turn it off once I realised 10 mins in?

… No.

Narrated by Ryan Corr? Yeah I’m SO in.
Profile Image for Georgia Lindley.
2 reviews1 follower
March 19, 2025
I just finished this book and the only thing I didn't like about it was when it ended!

I had so many more questions and I'm definitely hoping for a sequel. The book was well-researched, and all the references to F1 and women in STEM were spot on.

The narration was great - it made me blush during some parts, and had me on the edge of my seat during the race sections. It's a great first audiobook for anyone new to the format.

If you like things fast, listening at 1.2x speed was still great!

5 stars - well done to the narrators, Author and team at Audible!
Profile Image for Kat.
65 reviews
March 25, 2025
About as bad as you’d imagine a Claire Williams/Daniel Ricciardo romance would be.
33 reviews
August 19, 2025
I loved this one!

The story was a great lighthearted book about a woman in stem and her F1 driver. The banter, chemistry and sexual tension between the main characters was so good that countless times I found myself blushing and smiling along with the dialog. I almost felt like I was third wheeling before they even got together.

While mostly lighthearted the story did deal with some deeper themes including grief, Truma and the challenges of sexism in a male dominated field, I like that it added depth but didn't become overpowering of the lightness in the book.

I really liked the Narrators and their Vocals, and I also genuinely enjoyed the sound effects and commentators in this audiobook. The phone calls, chatter in the headsets, sounds of cars and the filming of the tv show etc. really helped set the stage for the book.

The book felt well researched, and I enjoyed learning more about the F1 sport. I love the representation of woman in stem.

I really hope there's a second book
Profile Image for Steph (stephjadeonline).
167 reviews6 followers
March 24, 2025
When I saw Aussie funny girl, Maddy MacRae mention on her socials that she’s narrated an audiobook, I knew I needed to check it out. I’m not an F1 girlie so I questioned whether it would even appeal to me, but I was instantly captivated. It gave me everything: swooning romance, fun banter and the utter thrill of F1 racing. Amongst all this, it also delved into topics around PTSD, trauma and grief, team dynamics and the gender bias around women working in male dominated industries.

The production was remarkable and I strongly insist that people listen to the Audiobook rather than reading it. Besides, it’s free via Audible (AU.) I thought the inclusion of sound effects (cars vroom-vrooming, chiming texts, cheering punters and discourse between the commentators) was super fun. This was the perfect little palette cleanser, highly recommend.
Profile Image for Britt Haigh.
178 reviews
April 22, 2025
4.5 ⭐️ audio read 🎧

“You and me baby. All the way.”

This was so much fun! It’s a free download with an Aussie F1 driver (inspo definitely Danial Ricciardo) and his British, female engineer. They begin as enemies but turn in to a great team, with some banter and tiny amount of spice. The narration was so great and the effects added elevated it perfectly. Super easy to listen to and even got a little tear in my eye at one point. I really enjoyed that the FMC was badass and smart in a male dominated sport 💪🏼

Definitely recommend if you’re an Audible listener 🙌🏼
Profile Image for Sathumi.
2 reviews
May 15, 2025
Female Lead ●●●●○
she was great fun and was only honestly super fun to see her banter and rapport with others. I read this book a little while ago but I can't remember what bothered me with her specifically but there was a little something... but the communication most of the time was great!

Male Lead ●●●●○
a typical Aussie man 😂 But somehow respectful?? a strange mix there. but watching him grow into the man she ends up with was fantastic

Story ●●●○○
pretty predictable nothing mindblowing but it was still fun to go on the ride. the voice acting was insane though!! I would highly recommend for audio book lovers, it was so immersive personally. I wish they allowed the important lines to be said by the respective voice actor though when it was other Lead... it took me a little out of it haha
Profile Image for Georgia Hawkins.
380 reviews4 followers
April 5, 2025
This was a really fun audiobook to listen to, it was very immersive and I liked the commentary segments and you could hear the cars racing in the background. I also like Billie and hope we get her story soon!
18 reviews
July 4, 2025
Loved this book!! The plot was interesting and engaging, the characters were well thought out, and the narration was amazing! I loved the sound effects and commentary, it was done so well. The romance was 🤌😍 And I now know more about F1 racing than I did yesterday😆 Definitely adding this to my list of favourites from Audible!!
Profile Image for Stephanie Grosse.
161 reviews5 followers
July 20, 2025
This is the best audiobook I have ever listened to.

This was a celebration of women in STEM, an exploration of new love, a battle with grief and everything in between. The characters were incredibly loveable and although predictable, the plot was captivating with its highs and lows. A fantastic listen.
Profile Image for Abi.
21 reviews
March 23, 2025
I personally really enjoyed it and how they delivered the audio book differently to others. But it didn’t have as much romance as I initially thought based off the advertising. I thoroughly enjoyed it but I went into it expecting something different 🫶🏽
Profile Image for Melissa.
536 reviews62 followers
March 29, 2025
I love a good F1 romcom. This one was just meh.
Profile Image for Cece Samson.
9 reviews
March 29, 2025
Such a cute story, love the tension and banter and enough of a plot to keep your attention! 100% recommend especially if you are looking for a palette cleanser from heavier books
Profile Image for Lara-grace.
14 reviews2 followers
April 3, 2025
The way I feel about this book. If you had told me six months ago that I was going to be reading a book about Formula One and enjoying it, I would’ve laughed at you. However, here we are. Excellent narration on the audiobook.
Profile Image for Natalie.
680 reviews10 followers
March 10, 2025
I’ve read A LOT of romance, and I’m pretty stoked to add a F1 romance to the mix. It was fab!

I absolutely loved the cast and hearing Aussie narration. I didn’t know going in that the FMC was voiced by *the* Maddy MacRae, and I got such a kick when I worked it out. So fun! The production was slick - loved the conversations in Finn’s earpiece with the background race sounds.

In terms of the plot, I enjoyed the deep dive into the sport and the touches on women in STEM/sports. Finn has a journey with his grief/trauma, and I was pleased therapy was referred to on-page.

Because I am romance enthusiast, I think I would have liked more build-up and scenes between the leads to show tension and chemistry. The jump from poor communication between the two to liking each other felt a little quick. The balance between racing/romance was skewed more toward the racing. Totally fine, but for me I need the palpable chemistry to push it to a 5 star read. Maybe a little less intensity on the HEA as well haha

In short: high quality audio production of a cute romance with an engaging and unique setting.
Profile Image for Mackenzie.
22 reviews
April 11, 2025
i've been told to never turn down something that's free. so i see this on audible, i download it because i love f1 and i pop in my airpods ready for some goofy, hot, messy romance. so color me surprised when the story was neither goofy nor hot nor messy nor romantic.

big ups to the narrators because they did great with what they were given and are honestly the only thing good about this book.

now onto the actual review.

so this is just truly awful danny ric fanfiction. and not even the semi-decent ali hazelwood-esque fanfic but instead like, written-by-a-twelve-year-old pointless fanfic. i'd call it wattpadian but that feels offensive, because i've read much better on there. i saw someone else posit that this was written with ai and yeah, i wouldn't be surprised. incredibly dull. terrible writing. bland ass characters. being an f1 fan and having a basic understanding the sport, it made me want to bash my head through a wall.

ok so why would you purposely make your mc so bland and annoying? like we spend the whole book trying to convince the reader "she's not a nepo baby, she's just super smart and super great and super pretty (but she doesn't wear makeup because she's not like the other girls) and super mary sue and she deserves her senior level role! it's not just because her dad owns the team, we swear!" like the author should of just accepted that she wrote a nepo baby mary sue, or written a different character???? she speaks in corporate robot and doesn't shut up about millenial girlbossing her way to the top, both of which drive me nuts. it's like a 2012 buzzfeed article and mark zuckerberg had a love child. and also, sienna sky is a goofy cartoon character name.

our love interest is daniel ricciardo but he mood swings into random trauma dumps at the drop of a hat. he's fine i guess but is giving constant emotional whiplash and is definitely not an actual character.

the novel is super boring in general. just zero stakes. snoozer problems that get resolved instantly (or not at all). no real plot. the 'villains' of the story just kinda stop being villains for no real reason at the end, which is weird and unsatisfying.

and if you're a booktok girly just here for the spice, let me save you some time in telling you that THERE IS NO SPICE. none. all you get is bland middle school flirting and some PG, fade-to-black nonsense a la twilight breaking dawn. but worse, because at least that book had weird vampire drama in it. this one just has two wet socks as main characters.

deadass might be the worst thing i've ever listened to.
Profile Image for Rachel.
201 reviews
March 26, 2025
This was gooooooood! I stumbled across this on an ad for Audible (great advertising 😉) and saw it had a great Australian cast and figured I'd give it a go.

It follows racing engineer Sienna Skye, daughter of famous race team owner Vinnie Skye. She's a young up-and-comer trying to prove herself in the man's world of F1 racing and get out of her father's shadow. She is paired with Australian driver Finn Di Santis whose career has fallen apart after a horrific racing death of a team mate. Cue the fireworks 🎆 that ensue with this pairing of 2 young hot shots of the sport.

It's safe to say I inhaled this. It was so addictive and the effects of the racing in the background and chatter in the headsets was great. The chapters dedicated to the commentators and the racing documentary 'Full Throttle' made it feel like a legitimate show. I loved the whole women in STEM empowerment message too.

Ryan Corr plays Finn and my goodness his swoon-worthy voice is top notch. And the steeeeeeaaammm! Fully closed door romance but their sexual tension was palpable. It had an amazing cast with other notable Australian actors voicing various team mates/ commentators.

Was it cliche and predictable? YES. Was it worth it? YES. It completely surprised me and I HIGHLY recommend 👌

"There's no room for regrets over missed opportunities. We take whatever time we have and we make it count"

4.5 ⭐️
Profile Image for Esther Kelly.
184 reviews5 followers
March 26, 2025
3.75 ⭐️

Okay, I finished this so quick cause I literally could not stop listening to it!

The problem that I as an f1 fan, often have with f1 romances is that a lot of the time they are so far fetched, I can’t take them seriously knowing how the sport works. HOWEVER, this author knew their stuff which made this story so much more believable! Still some bits that had me cringing a little but you know what, it’s a cutesy romance, it doesn’t have to be perfectly accurate right?

It was pretty obvious that this was a Red Bull/ Danny Ric/ Drive to Survive inspired story but meh, it was cute af.

This was an adorable romance, and I loved the emphasis on women in sport and stem, it reminded me a fair bit of Ali Hazelwood.

I actually loved the way that this was presented, having some sound effects and different voice actors made it very easy to listen to, even at 1.75x speed.

A lovely little palette cleanser, without a huge amount of spice.
Profile Image for Andrée-ann.
154 reviews2 followers
April 4, 2025
TAGS: Driving, car, engines, Grand Prie, enemy-ish to lover, prejudice, clean-ish (closed door), traumas, competition, fame, TV show, genious lady, professional driver, speed, sweet, slow burn, co-worker, forced proximity

This is a story written for the audiobook format. I didn't expect anything before starting it, because I didn't know what it would sound like. I was, sometime, impressed and other times less so.

There is some chapters where the voices actors are acting the dialogues together. Instead of the classic 1 chapter each and they do all the voices of the chapter. I was pleasantly surprised at how it give the story another dimension. I think this is how radios series must have sounded back in the days.

The story was good and the characters were suitably flawed. I liked how some modern struggles are portrayed.

The romance was sweet and the slow burn was well paced. I think this audiobook should be enjoyed has a light sport romance.
Profile Image for Jacq.
108 reviews4 followers
April 8, 2025
I wasn't sure about this at first as I'm not an F1 fan. Plus the sheer amount of accent work at the start was overwhelming to differentiate each character. But as I got into it, I was surprised at how entertaining it was. The radio play vibes were strong & it was cool to learn what race engineers actually do! I'd assumed F1 was individualised but it's a very team orientated sport. The chemistry was well brought to life by Ryan Corr & Maddy McRae. All in all it was a cute romance that caught me by surprise.

3.5⭐
Profile Image for Caitlin.
213 reviews2 followers
June 10, 2025
Hell of a lot of fun, cute to boot, and perfectly executed with a great cast sound engineering. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the F1 trenches and this kind of made me miss it? Never really thought too much about how in a lot of ways it’s set up for some great sports romance premises 😂 May have to check out more in the future, and I hope Audible Australia continues this series! (Considering I saw billboards - including one above Young & Jackson’s! - for this in the lead up to the Melbourne GP, I’m sure it did VERY well!)
1 review
April 6, 2025
I flipping LOVED listening to this book! It took a few chapters to get into, but once the main characters spoke over the race coms for the first time, I was hooked. The chemistry between them was so fun the whole way through. The voices were *chefs kiss* for the characters. Love some great Aussie voice actors. I laughed, cried, and giggled like a teenage girl 😂 As soon as it finished I wanted to restart it.
I'd be stoked if this was made into a movie!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Profile Image for Annika.
91 reviews1 follower
April 7, 2025
Romance is not usually my genre but I purchased this on a whim with Audible credits I had. I liked the narration and the immersive elements that brought the story to life. It was cute, very PG, and fun to listen to. My main gripe is that Finn seemed to essentially be Daniel Ricciardo, and (with absolutely no disrespect to Danny) he’s not in my top driver list. Maybe there’ll be a sequel with a Ferrari angle…
813 reviews9 followers
April 7, 2025
4.5
Great F1 book.
Audio narration wa excellent. Really felt like I was on race track.
All the background noise were very accurate and likes the “live broadcast” feels.

Predictable but very well told mature story.

Accents were excellent.

All great. Would read again.

Liked all the familiarity of real F1

Ie: somerstone for Silverstone. And Riffah for Jeddah. Etc.

Great job.

Want more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Aisling Conlon.
53 reviews
May 31, 2025
First time experiencing a F1 romance and I really enjoyed it. Sienna Skye is smart, ambitious racing engineer trying to make her mark in a male dominated field. Finn Di Santis- a fallen start driver with some to prove. Their relationship starts of rocky but quickly develops into a compelling romance.
Set against the high pressure F1 circuit and a behind-the-scenes documentary series (Full Throttle), this story isn't just about love- it dives into grief, trauma and the harsh realities women face in professional sports.
The audible product was outstanding. There were 8 narrators, including race commentators and announced , which made it feel incredibly cinematic and immersive.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 193 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.