Tuta Mionki is an accomplished navigator and steward.
An accomplished navigator and steward, Tuta Mionki is in many respects a pioneer in her field.
Born in Thika in 1976, Mionki served as an observer steward in Qatar Formula One Grand Prix last month, a responsibility bestowed upon her by the Federation Internationale de L.Automobile (FIA) at Formula One Grand Prix, the apex of motor racing.
A graduate of the FIA High Performance Programme, Mionki is an accomplished navigator with a growing international resume as a technical expert in rallying, as well as in Formula One.
She has joined an exclusive club of technical officials tasked with the huge responsibility of hearing cases on technical infringement, behaviour on the track and off it, and safety cases lodged by the clerk-of-course in rally and race director in Formula racing.
Mionki returned home from Qatar GP more enlightened after a once-in-a lifetime learning opportunity, her second in a Formula One race since her first time in the programme at the Spanish Grand Prix. FIA certainly has bigger things in store for Mionki, who was crowned 2018 Kenya Motorsports Person of the year. That year, she guided Eric Bengi to a career-best fifth place overall in the Africa Rally Championship.
In Qatar, she joined four other individuals – chairman of the stewards, second steward, drivers steward, and ASN stewards – for the season-opening race.
She was an observer tasked with seeing how F1 races are run. Along with other team members, she sat in the race control tower, a complex centre of huge TV monitors where officials follow the race keenly, and observe all aspects of the race—from safety, sensible driving, to how the race develops.
A steward is a judge who adjudicates complaints, mistakes and technical infringements in motorsport reported by the clerk-of-course in rallying, or competition director in Formula series. Mionki earned the respect of the FIA Stewards who can make decisions which can affect an event, including cancellations, changes in route, and safety and discipline.
“What you see on TV is different in F1 races. Those cars are very loud and fast. But being an observer steward you are in this room and your work is to check every detail. There are those large screens with details of telemetry, video replays. You must be on the lookout for everything and note everything should there be an infringement or dispute, which you must adjudicate,” she says.
“For Kenyan motorsport professional and graduate of the FIA High Performance Programme, this year offered Tuta Mionki an invaluable opportunity to immerse herself in the world of stewarding at the highest level through experience gained in both the FIA Formula One World Championship, and at the FIA World Rally Championship,” the FIA wrote in a statement after the Qatar Grand Prix on December 1.
“I am very grateful to the FIA, which has invested a lot in training me and other Kenyans, and appointed mentors for us to give us the required skills,” she says.
“We are also allocated steward mentors to guide us through the programme. Mine has been very helpful and gracious all the way.”
Closer home, Mionki has served as the chairperson of the stewards in Uganda, Zambia, Rwanda and Burundi legs of the Africa Rally Championship series.
In school, Mionki’s best subjects were English and Kiswahili. “I especially loved Literature and Fasihi. Overall, I loved secondary school. I met my best friend in college, and we enjoyed spending time in the library and going to the movie theatres on Tuesday afternoons when we did not have classes.”
She added, “It cost Sh80 on Tuesdays and we would also watch movies on the weekends or relax. We both loved church. My friends did not understand why I did not go clubbing. I just wasn’t interested in clubbing. I also played basketball. With my height, you can imagine that I was not the best at it. Then I discovered rebounding and made it my thing. I watched a lot of basketball from the NBA and developed an interest in the sport. I stayed at the college hostels with a group of fantastic ladies.”
After failing to make progress in football and other sport, Mionki’s dream as a young lady was to compete in motorsport.
Her role models included Sylvia King, Michelle van Tongaren, Gillian Bailey, Safina Hussein, Stella Macharia and Helen Shiri, who had made a name for themselves in motorsport.
Mionki holds the Kenya Motor Sports Federation Awards for the best co-driver of the season in 2015 (Division 3), and in 2016 (two-wheel drive). She was the first woman rally driver to join the Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) Premier Class Motor Rallying.
Mionki was born in Thika in 1976 to Jane Nyaruiru Wambui. She grew up in Thika. She attended Gatumaini Primary School and later Maryhill Girls High School.
Mionki later joined the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, where she majored in human resource management.
She has worked for local companies, among them Kenya Airways, British American Tobacco, Java House and ZTE. She quit employment in 2009 to concentrate on her own businesses and motorsport.
Her objective? “I want to become the first black woman chairman of stewards in international competition,” she says.
