Of course it’s possible that a woman would win the Formula One championship.
But the only way any woman can prove she’s as fast a driver as Lewis is to beat him or his peers around the race track. And until women get the experience, encouragement and equal funding they aren’t in the running.
Which is why W Series co-founder David Coulthard is supporting the pioneering W Series for women as one of the best ways of going about this.
The Last Woman in Formula 1
Just for the record, the last time a woman participated in a Formula 1 race weekend was when Susie Wolff drove in Free Practice 1 at Silverstone for Williams in the 2015 British Grand Prix.
Coulthard believes that the cream of the female racing crop will naturally earn a chance to follow in Wolff’s tracks and drive in Formula 1 as long as they can pass muster in the junior racing categories.
“Working with the W Series, I want to bring more women into motorsport. My sister raced, she was very good but she didn’t get the support because my family were supporting me not her. I regret that, so I now want to be part of this initiative to help support female talent and bring more women into motorsport.
“If they’re good enough, they’ll go to Formula 1. If they’re merely good – and good is [still] good of course – then they’ll do well in touring cars, sports cars and many other racing championships.”
And by doing this they’ll encourage other fast female racers to follow in their tracks in future.
W Series Championship for women racers
Jamie Chadwick (centre in photo), who raced against current McLaren star Lando Norris in the 2014 Ginetta Junior Championship, was crowned the W Series’ inaugural champion earlier this month, notching up two wins and three additional podiums en route to the title.
Having been signed up earlier in the year to the Williams Racing Driver Academy, could Jamie be one of the women to write the next chapter in the history of female participation in Formula 1?
After seeing so many talented women racers learn coveted racing skills in 2019 to give them the added confidence, racing knowledge and ability, it would be good to see more racing fans support them during the second season of the W Series.
Jamie is by no means the only female capable of making the transition to Formula 1 and it was especially encouraging to see other British drivers, including an unlucky Alice Powell in 2019, demonstrating their racing strategy, bravery and ability.
Undoubtedly, one of these days we WILL see a female taking on and beating the best males in Formula 1.
In the meantime, we’d encourage ALL women drivers to support those who are trying to get there rather than disparaaging those who start their racing careers by racing against women only. What choice do they have, when they haven’t the family money or time to showcase their talents otherwise?
