In the great, inclusive era of racing as one, Formula One and its teams have been quick to try to highlight female presence. Although, when surveyed by ESPN a year ago, the numbers of women as staff (and particularly traveling staff) were woefully low across the paddock, there does seem to be a considerable amount of energy for change. Six female drivers are signed to F1 teams; Jamie Chadwick is a Williams junior, Abbi Pulling is an Alpine Academy affiliate driver, Jessica Hawkins is a development driver and ambassador for Aston Martin, Maya Weug and Laura Camps Torras reside within the Ferrari Driver Academy, and karter Luna Fluxa is part of the Mercedes junior program.
It’s been 30 years since a woman entered a grand prix, however, and with comments like F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali saying he didn’t see a woman getting there within the next half decade, it’s clear that the barriers remain high. And the highest thing in motorsport is always the price.
W Series, a female-only junior championship intended as a ladder step within the pyramid of open-wheel racing, didn’t have that. It announced on Monday that it would not complete the 2022 season, citing a lack of funding.
The idea was to find the fastest, not the richest, drivers and to take the pressure of funding away from them. Drivers who had scrabbled for money to compete suddenly found themselves with fully paid seats — yes, in a regional F3 series, but the costs to compete in that sort of machinery run into the hundreds of thousands, a hugely prohibitive amount for many female drivers.
Welcomed onto the F1 support bill with a reasonable amount of noise in 2021, W Series has provided moments of progress for an otherwise largely unchanged grand prix platform. Women were highly visible every weekend, a multiracial driver dominated the series and the first openly LGBTQ+ driver stood on a podium during an F1 weekend.
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Due to run at the U.S. and Mexico City grands prix still this year and despite a heroic, 11th-hour attempt to continue, W Series has found itself making the same announcement seen from a lot of female drivers throughout the years: its season ends early. Jamie Chadwick is champion for the third time, the seven races already held enough to award a trophy, and the drivers and championship now…
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