The biggest winner of the Austrian Grand Prix as inspiring charity awarded £86k | World | News

Lottery funding is helping teenagers in Austria get a foot into the career of their dreams, with £86,150 (€100,000) of funding awarded to a children’s charity. Sindbad Mentoring, a tutorship programme located in Graz, picked up the F1 Allwyn Global Community Award, beating out a number of rivals to scoop the money over the Austrian Grand Prix weekend.

Allwyn, a partner of the McLaren F1 team, hopes to recognise and spotlight community-focused initiatives across the world of F1, with a focus on groups that have a positive impact on society. The prize has been created as part of a multi-year partnership between F1 and Allwyn, with cash handed out to award winners at seven F1 events this season.

There is strict criteria around who is eligible for the prize. Applicants must be a registered non-profit organisation, charity, or non-governmental organisation, while the initiatives should focus on Empowerment and Inclusion, Education and Opportunity, Health and Wellbeing or Sustainability and Innovation.

Austrian youth charity Sindbad Mentoring were stunned to pick up the award, admitting they were shocked when they received the message ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix.

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk co-founder of Sindbad, Julia Unterberger said: “I got the email on the Friday afternoon on my holiday and I just couldn’t believe it. I had to check if it was spam. I just couldn’t believe it. I double checked it. Once I had got it I called Barbara and told them and it was the perfect start of the weekend on a Friday afternoon.”

The non-profit organisation helps organise one-to-one mentoring, connecting teenagers aged 13-19 from underrepresented backgrounds with long-term mentors in their 20s. Since 2019, 8,400 young people across Austria have taken part in the initiative, allowing youngsters to get valuable insight into how to make the first steps into their future career.

Barbara Krainer, co-head of Sindbad told Express.co.uk: “We aim for young people who come from disadvantaged backgrounds because especially those students find it quite hard to get access to networks or have a role model because they sometimes lack in their own family. The mentors can be a person that guides them through this very critical stage where they need to decide what they want to do next.”

Allwyn stressed that Sindbad had beaten the opposition and secured the prize for the group’s power in creating a lasting impact and delivering enduring societal benefit through youth development.

Ellen Jones, Head of ESG at Formula 1 and F1® Allwyn Global Community Award judge explained: “Sindbad Mentoring’s model doesn’t just offer immediate help, but builds enduring confidence and opportunity, a mission that mirrors Formula 1’s own commitment to ensuring our sport acts as a powerful catalyst for growth and inclusion worldwide.”

Some of Sindbad’s mentees were even invited to Austria’s Red Bull Ring to see the action up close. The business were also awarded the stunning Allwyn Community Award trophy in Spielberg, a bespoke handcrafted design from the Creative Director of world-renowned Czech glassworks Moser, Jan Plecháč. Sindbad has stressed that the money will be used for logistics, as well as additional marketing.

Sindbad’s Julia told Express.co.uk: “With the community award from Allwyn we can add 35 additional places for young people in our programme, so we are growing and can scale our programme. It helps us to recruit and train mentors to organise programming activities and also increase our impact.”