GIRL-POWERED
NEW FORMULA ONE FOR WOMEN LAUNCHED: SPORTSMAIL EXCLUSIVE
AFORMULA Onestyle championship exclusively for women will be launched today. Sportsmail understands that the ground-breaking singleseater championship, called W Series, will stage its first race next spring. Carrying a prize fund of £1.15million, it is intended to shake up motor racing’s boys’ club and ultimately produce a first female world champion.
Such is the historic gender imbalance in Formula One that of the 900-plus drivers who have raced in the world championship since its creation in 1950, only two have been women, the last being Italian Lella Lombardi more than 40 years ago. The new series, comprising 18 to 20 cars, will not charge drivers to enter. Its organisers will instead select their line-up on merit.
This means women who might otherwise have run out of money on their journey through the ranks can demonstrate their talent and be fast-tracked to Formula One — a leg-up in a sport that has always been a male bastion.
Among the likely participants is 20-year-old Briton Jamie Chadwick — the first woman to win a Formula Three race. Highlyrated Dutch driver Stephane Kox and Italian Vicky Piria are also leading contenders. The grid will be selected in part by David Coulthard, winner of 13 grands prix, and Adrian Newey, F1’s most successful designer, both of whom are W Series shareholders.
Coulthard told Sportsmail: ‘In order to be a successful racing driver, you have to be skilled, determined and physically fit, but you don’t have to be a man.
‘We believe that female and male racing drivers can and should compete on equal terms if they have the same opportunity and training — and we’re going to try to make that happen. There’s no reason the next Lewis Hamilton should not be a woman.’
W Series races will be staged on European circuits, starting in May, probably in Germany, before moving across the globe in subsequent seasons. Britain will stage a race next year. Organisers say the cars will be cutting-edge, identical and powered by 1.8-litre turbo-charged engines.
The series is being bankrolled by Scottish businessman Sean Wadsworth, a schoolmate of Coulthard from Kirkcudbright Academy, who sold his recruitment business in 2016 for £200m.
It will be overseen by chief executive Catherine Bond Muir, a lawyer and corporate finance banker, who dreamt up the idea while on maternity leave, having had her first baby aged 45.
Bond Muir said: ‘We aim to show the world what women are really capable of. Many sports in which women and men compete equally also run segregated events purely to increase the numbers of women who participate. Until now, motor racing has been the only sport in which there were no separate series for women.’
Hamilton’s former team manager at McLaren, Dave Ryan, will be racing director.