Photo: wseries.com
Formula 1 sets the pace for a significant change in motorsport by introducing an all-women competition. Fifteen identical 165-hp racecars will compete over twenty-one races. Equally split between seven events in a year's season, the no man's land racing formula will prepare young female pilots for the heat of the F1 Grand Prix.
Each driver will benefit from a subsidy of $150,000 from Formula 1 and an equal amount from the pilot's pocket, with the rest of the budget covered by their respective teams. The F1 Academy initiative is set to break the gender barriers in motorsport. Women have far less experience behind the steering wheel of a racecar than their male counterparts regarding F1 requirements.
The series will see five teams (under the protecting umbrellas of current F2 and F3 teams) racing three cars, each over seven distinct three-round stages. So, 21 total races - and a 15-day testing period – complete the 2023 inaugural calendar for the all-female competition. The calendar of the F1 Academy is to be released "in due course," according to Formula 1 officials.
Like many other mono-brand motoring races, the drivers will start with equal technological chances: the Tatuus T421 chassis, a turbocharged four-cylinder engine from Autotecnica, and Pirelli tires. This paradigm-shifting move aims to "provide young talent currently in go-karting or other junior categories with access to the fundamental level of experience needed before acing in F3 and joining the pyramid to Formula 1."
Currently, a women-only motoring competition is held under the auspices of W Series, “a free-to-enter championship, launched in October 2018, that provides equal opportunities for women and eliminates the financial barriers that have historically prevented them from progressing to the upper echelons of motorsport.”
So far, only five women raced in a Formula 1 Grand Prix in the 72-year-long history of the motorsport, and just one managed to score points. Or, to be accurate, half a point: in 1975, during an ill-fated race in Spain, Maria Grazia' Lella' Lombardi crossed the finish line in sixth place. Because that race ended prematurely – due to a tragic accident - pilots received half the points awarded on a regular race.
The last female driver to participate in a Formula 1 event – albeit not a race – is Susie Wolff, a British test pilot who ran for Williams between 2012 and 2015. She drove during several free-practice sessions and retired from Formula 1 at the end of the 2015 season.
The series will see five teams (under the protecting umbrellas of current F2 and F3 teams) racing three cars, each over seven distinct three-round stages. So, 21 total races - and a 15-day testing period – complete the 2023 inaugural calendar for the all-female competition. The calendar of the F1 Academy is to be released "in due course," according to Formula 1 officials.
Like many other mono-brand motoring races, the drivers will start with equal technological chances: the Tatuus T421 chassis, a turbocharged four-cylinder engine from Autotecnica, and Pirelli tires. This paradigm-shifting move aims to "provide young talent currently in go-karting or other junior categories with access to the fundamental level of experience needed before acing in F3 and joining the pyramid to Formula 1."
Currently, a women-only motoring competition is held under the auspices of W Series, “a free-to-enter championship, launched in October 2018, that provides equal opportunities for women and eliminates the financial barriers that have historically prevented them from progressing to the upper echelons of motorsport.”
So far, only five women raced in a Formula 1 Grand Prix in the 72-year-long history of the motorsport, and just one managed to score points. Or, to be accurate, half a point: in 1975, during an ill-fated race in Spain, Maria Grazia' Lella' Lombardi crossed the finish line in sixth place. Because that race ended prematurely – due to a tragic accident - pilots received half the points awarded on a regular race.
The last female driver to participate in a Formula 1 event – albeit not a race – is Susie Wolff, a British test pilot who ran for Williams between 2012 and 2015. She drove during several free-practice sessions and retired from Formula 1 at the end of the 2015 season.
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