JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Formula One‘s all-female F1 Academy series embarks on a landmark second series this year with an overhauled look from year one.
After a quiet debut campaign, F1 Academy has strengthened its ties to the world championship. For 2024, F1’s 10 teams have stepped in to back one of the grid’s 15 young drivers — which will come with liveries for each of their cars — with the other five backed by different partners such as skincare brand Charlotte Tilbury, which made its first foray into sports partnerships by linking up with F1 Academy.
The F1 link does not stop there. F1 Academy will join the championship in Saudi Arabia, Miami, Spain, the Netherlands, Singapore, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, with races set to be broadcast live on ESPN in the U.S.
“It’s a huge moment,” series CEO Susie Wolff told ESPN about the second year. “Having all the F1 teams on board, some iconic brands and racing with F1 on three continents shows how much progress has been made and how much support there is for our vision and the positive impact we want to create in the sport for women.”
– F1 Academy Saudi Race 1, Friday @ 7:10 a.m. ET, stream live on ESPN+
– F1 Academy Saudi Race 2, Saturday @ 7:05 a.m. ET, stream live on ESPN+
There is one headline stat that always accompanies talk of all-female series: The last F1 race to feature a woman was the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix, when Lella Lombardi competed.
While F1 and F1 Academy want to eventually see that fact consigned to the history books, both have stressed that the new series has a much bigger remit. F1 boss Stefano Domenicali has shied away from making bold predictions about having a female driver in the next five, 10 or 15 years, but has instead echoed Wolff’s view of the series having a much more important vision for the sport.
“Success needs to be on and off track,” Wolff said. “That’s always been part of Stefano’s vision and why he got F1 Academy up and running in the first place.
“We see this sport having this incredible global popularity, and the biggest growing fan demographic is the young female. I’m very aware not every young girl who watches F1 wants to be a driver, or a mechanic, or a journalist, but we can show that this sport is bringing to task the diversity.
“The sport wants to have a call to action to make sure its not this male-dominated, chauvinistic…
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