(Editor’s note: Formula 1 moved the typical race weekend schedule up a day to observe Ramadan, which falls on Sunday. Frontstretch is following this schedule, pushing the usual Slipstream Saturdays column onto Friday for both this week and last. Enjoy the start of the F1 season.)
This weekend will mark the start of the second season of F1 Academy, a new all-woman feeder series that aims to promote women in motorsport.
Unlike the W Series, which Liberty Media didn’t own, this series has F1’s full blessing and has the resources to be a true feeder series. All full-time drivers may only race in two seasons. The champion, who cannot return for another season even if they are a rookie, gets full support from the series to try and find a competitive ride in an F4 series the following year.
The grid boasts 10 of the 15 full-time drivers supported financially by F1 teams and running their paint schemes, with the other drivers having other big brands such as Ford, Tommy Hilfiger, and Puma supporting their seats.
In addition to every race in the series now being telecast, streamed during F1 weekends, there has been another significant change to F1A this season.
A 16th driver may join the grid in one-off weekend appearances. This “wild card” driver will have the full support of the Prema Racing team, which already fields three of the entries in F1A and holds plenty of success in other F1 feeder series such as Formula 2.
The full process of how to become a wild card entry is detailed on the F1 Academy’s website:
“Working with race promoters, F1 ACADEMY will identify talented young women from the host region and offer them Wild Card entry for a specific weekend.”
The wild card for this weekend in Saudi Arabia is Reema Juffali, hailed as the first-ever female racing driver for the kingdom.
Before diving into the meat of this column, I would be remiss if I failed to mention that Frontstretch.com’s home for reporting and results on F1A and the other F1 feeder series can be found on Formula Frontstretch, our new Bluesky account.
With the shameless plug taken care of, the next round for F1 Academy after this weekend will be in a couple of months, in Miami during the Miami Grand Prix weekend.
It would be a bit foolish not to consider fielding a wild card entry for the series in America, with just how many female drivers there are at all but the highest levels of professional auto racing in this country. But who…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …