2019 W Series

[PocketZeven]

Nothing wrong with a women only F1 series just like there is nothing wrong with women's only football.

I disagree. With motorsports women do not have the same physical disadvantage to men as in other sports. However a womens league as sort of development program is a good idea. But I would like to see women in F1.

 

[twitcher]

The whole point of this series is to promote women and to help get them into F1.

Not only that, but why the hell would the FIA mandate that women can only compete in a single FIA event? That makes literally no sense and goes against what the FIA has been doing for the last few years...


It would be like trying to suggest when Formula E came about that in a few years the FIA would ban F1 because FE was the ‘future’...

I never said the FIA would say women can only compete in FW...read again. I also get that this is supposed to help females get to F1.

FW has been presented as a female alternative for F3, the cars are supposed to be at the same level. So picture this....you have 20 females in FW, and 1 female in F3. If you’re a F1 team boss, who are you looking at? You’ll look at whoever is fastest. It’ll come down to whether or not the FW grid can produce lap times equal to or better than the F3 grid. We’ll have to wait and see whether that happens or not.

One thing I’ll add, I’ll be extremely keen to see this FW series run on the exact same tires as Euro F3.

 

[eran0004]

What would prevent them? Perhaps the orginizers of FW might look to the FIA to make a rule which mandates it? Why would FW do that? Because next year and years after, any woman who competes in F3 undermines FW, so it’s actually in the interest of FW to prevent women from competing in F3.

Why would women competing in F3 undermine FW?

 

[SlipZtrEm]

I disagree. With motorsports women do not have the same physical disadvantage to men as in other sports.

Strictly speaking, this isn't entirely true. Racing, especially in the upper tiers, is a very physically demanding activity. Case in point: Jenson Button held his own against two Olympic athletes in 2014.

There are physical differences between the two sexes in most Olympic sports — motor racing is no different. Men typically (though by no means always) have quicker reaction times, which most certainly would matter on track!

 

[MatskiMonk]

Honest question: Were there any women racing drivers that actually participated in high-level motorsport championships and actually put out good results?

Claudia Hürtgen is always the one that springs to my mind.

F3 career ended with injury, but she's gone onto have quite a few more races wins in Sportscars and GT racing.

 

[DR_MOJO91]

Pla

Ok, I guess.

I really don’t get it though. Lewis Hamilton was identified as a talent when he was 10 years old. He did not come from a rich family, and the fact he is a black man competing in a white sport was as big an obstacle to overcome as being a female in a male sport.

Point being, if there actually was a talented female racer out there, one would think the likes of McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari, Redbull, or Renault would snatch them up with their YDPs. If there’s any kid out there, boy or girl, who can match what Lewis did in carts, the funding will come. Lando Norris broke Hamilton’s record of being the youngest even carting world champion - that is the main reason he was backed by McLaren through his junior formula, because he has mad talent, not because he fits a certain demographic.

My biggest question though, is what happens next? So we have a series for women, driving what are basically F3 cars, on European circuits - two very known quantities. So what is going to happen after a full season of this series, when it comes time to sign drivers for 2020, and Formula W’s drivers are slower than Forumla 3 drivers by X seconds....which top teams are going to sign these drivers?

Is the goal to get a female from FW straight into F1 (a la Max, Ocon, Stroll going from F3 to F1)? Or would they have to go through F2 first? My concern here is that unless the drivers in FW can put up actual numbers that indicate they are faster than F3 guys, top teams will continue to look past them. I worry that if this happens too much, the same forces behind the development of this series will demand mandatory female seats on the F1 grid.


To be clear, I’m all for women in racing, I fully believe they are just as fast behind the wheel. I just don’t think this is the right way to go about trying to force
diversity.

Furthermore, if I want to put on my SJW hat, why just women? Where is Formula Asian? Or Formula African? There’s all kinds of people in Africa who are prevented from furthering their motorsports career because of lack of funding - where’s their free to enter series?

Last thing, are women still allowed to compete in F3?

I hope this works out somehow, really I do. I just think this is forcing the issue too much, and I don’t think it’s going to end up with the results that people are hoping for. We’ll have to wait and see I guess.

Females are not on the same level as men biologically mate, racing is a physical sport not when we are sitting on a chair using a toy steering wheel. When it comes down to actual racing its quite different. Fitness is a huge part of racing whether it be endurance, strength, stamina. Women are not on the same level as men physically. Anyone that tries to argue that probably majored in gender studies or something along those lines and wants to be referred by the fifty something genders that those lost souls came up with. Statistics are in favor for men.

 

[twitcher]

Why would women competing in F3 undermine FW?

The caliber of competition in F3 will be higher than FW, so if a woman can compete in F3, she’s basically saying she’s better than everyone in FW. Like I’ve been saying, if you’re an F1 team boss, why would you look at a female from FW if there was a female competing in F3.

To be clear, I’m not saying the caliber of competition will be higher because of some sexist bias - I’m saying it simply because that is the series the drivers with superior talent will go to, regardless of gender. From Lewis Hamilton to Lando Norris, with the likes of Ocon, Russel, Vandoorne, Stroll, LeClerc and many more in between, all these drivers were identified by factory teams BEFORE they reached the F3 level. Any young driver, regardless of gender, who is backed by the likes of Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren, Redbull, Renault, BMW, Audi, etc, will go through F3, not FW.

 

[TheElbows]

I think it's unfortunate that people believe this needs to exist, but I can see the result already. Racing, by its very nature is not sexist. It's a person operating a machine. As technology increases the physical demands of driving the machines are somewhat lessened, and we've seen that physical strength isn't much of a limiting factor. We've seen plenty of excellent female drivers (as mentioned Katherine Legge and Christina Nielsen have been absolutely superb in IMSA), and plenty of female drives who have a seat solely because they're female - where their talent doesn't justify their presence (read: Danica Patrick). The latter being similar to pay-drivers. These drivers are just good enough to meet the qualifications/skill level of a series but aren't present based solely on sheer talent/ability, etc.

Culturally you'll never have the 50/50 "magical" split that the world is so dead-set on existing. You'll never have an equal number of 5-6 year old girls starting in karting, and being dedicated to motorsports (or at least their parents being dedicated!) for the next 10-15 years until a proper series takes them in. Culturally it won't happen, families themselves aren't thinking that way. Not to mention, no amount of teeth-gnashing is going to suddenly make more female children chomp at the bit to go driving/racing. It's the same reason why the US lacks in international sports like football (soccer). Our culture isn't built around cultivating soccer players at a very young age...that's fine.

No one in this thread can argue that if a female driver showed up in ANY motorsport and was as fast or the fastest...that they wouldn't be snatched up. There isn't a single team, owner, sponsor who'd go "Hmmm...she's super quick, but...she's got boobs." We've seen from numerous female race drivers that they have no interest in being singled out on sex. They also (mostly) don't want a drive or ride because of their sex. If anything, a high performing female driver would have an advantage because she's female - any team or owner would be more than happy to hop on that option just to put a "diverse" face on their brand/team, etc.

Setting up Formula W (?) is a "nice" initiative if a bit backward. Women who want to race, want to race. They don't want to be coddled and given a "Well, you sure were faster than all of the other peo...women...out there." The convoluted political nonsense of such a series could end up with a really uninspiring series. They'll hurt themselves tremendously if, in similar cars, the series is 2-3 seconds a lap slower than an equivalent male series. Ticket sales will probably suck and it'll be laid at the feet of sexism rather than failing to produce an exciting series people want to watch. I'd love to be proven wrong, but I can more or less see exactly how this will play out.

Perhaps, just perhaps one or two drivers will end up getting exposure who may have not previously been given exposure, we'll see.

 

[Dennisch]

Is there any news on it being a F1 support series, or will they race with emtpy stands around them?

 

[twitcher]

I think it's unfortunate that people believe this needs to exist, but I can see the result already. Racing, by its very nature is not sexist. It's a person operating a machine. As technology increases the physical demands of driving the machines are somewhat lessened, and we've seen that physical strength isn't much of a limiting factor. We've seen plenty of excellent female drivers (as mentioned Katherine Legge and Christina Nielsen have been absolutely superb in IMSA), and plenty of female drives who have a seat solely because they're female - where their talent doesn't justify their presence (read: Danica Patrick). The latter being similar to pay-drivers. These drivers are just good enough to meet the qualifications/skill level of a series but aren't present based solely on sheer talent/ability, etc.

Culturally you'll never have the 50/50 "magical" split that the world is so dead-set on existing. You'll never have an equal number of 5-6 year old girls starting in karting, and being dedicated to motorsports (or at least their parents being dedicated!) for the next 10-15 years until a proper series takes them in. Culturally it won't happen, families themselves aren't thinking that way. Not to mention, no amount of teeth-gnashing is going to suddenly make more female children chomp at the bit to go driving/racing. It's the same reason why the US lacks in international sports like football (soccer). Our culture isn't built around cultivating soccer players at a very young age...that's fine.

No one in this thread can argue that if a female driver showed up in ANY motorsport and was as fast or the fastest...that they wouldn't be snatched up. There isn't a single team, owner, sponsor who'd go "Hmmm...she's super quick, but...she's got boobs." We've seen from numerous female race drivers that they have no interest in being singled out on sex. They also (mostly) don't want a drive or ride because of their sex. If anything, a high performing female driver would have an advantage because she's female - any team or owner would be more than happy to hop on that option just to put a "diverse" face on their brand/team, etc.

Setting up Formula W (?) is a "nice" initiative if a bit backward. Women who want to race, want to race. They don't want to be coddled and given a "Well, you sure were faster than all of the other peo...women...out there." The convoluted political nonsense of such a series could end up with a really uninspiring series. They'll hurt themselves tremendously if, in similar cars, the series is 2-3 seconds a lap slower than an equivalent male series. Ticket sales will probably suck and it'll be laid at the feet of sexism rather than failing to produce an exciting series people want to watch. I'd love to be proven wrong, but I can more or less see exactly how this will play out.

Perhaps, just perhaps one or two drivers will end up getting exposure who may have not previously been given exposure, we'll see.

Very well said.

Personally, I foresee it going similar to the forced diversity in comic books and card games like Magic the Gathering. It won’t sell, and this will be blamed on the “toxic male fan base”.


Further general points for the thread to chew on:

If I’m reading this situation correctly, what the organizers of this series are saying is that young girls coming out of karting and regional F4 hit a glass ceiling at the F3 level, so, they’ve made a Female F3. Ok. So what indication do we have that they haven’t just moved the glass ceiling up one level. Like I’ve been saying, are we supposed to believe F2 and F1 team bosses will be lining up to sign FW graduates? I foresee in a few years that these same powers will come forward and say “it’s basically impossible for women to progress past the F3/FW level, so we’re going to create a female F2 / we’ll mandate X number of female drivers on the F2 grid.” And then it’s only one more step to having a female F1, or mandating female drivers in F1.


Here’s a rather crappy idea that ticks a lot of boxes for a lot of people: 3 car F1 teams, but one car must be driven by a woman.


And here’s one that just came to me If I’m a young boy coming out of F4 or karting, but am having trouble finding funding for F3.....what’s to stop me changing my gender so that I can compete in Formula Woman?

 

[Famine]

Formula Woman

Just so you know, this new series isn't Formula Woman, it's the "W Series". Formula Woman was a one-make road car racing series from 2004-2006, in the UK. It initially used Mazda RX-8s, but Mazda withdrew its support after one season and the series used Caterhams instead. A GTPlanet member raced in Formula Woman...

 

[twitcher]

Just so you know, this new series isn't Formula Woman, it's the "W Series". Formula Woman was a one-make road car racing series from 2004-2006, in the UK. It initially used Mazda RX-8s, but Mazda withdrew its support after one season and the series used Caterhams instead. A GTPlanet member raced in Formula Woman...

FW, W-Series, same difference to me. Good to know though I guess.

Any knowledge of why Formula Woman wasn’t ultimately successful?

 

[Leggacy]

Bit off topic but; I don’t know if I’m imagining it but the cameras in the F1 pits seem to be making a feature of the female pit crew. Which is good, there’s no reason why it should all be male dominated in the pits either.

 

[Slapped]

Pla
Females are not on the same level as men biologically mate, racing is a physical sport not when we are sitting on a chair using a toy steering wheel. When it comes down to actual racing its quite different. Fitness is a huge part of racing whether it be endurance, strength, stamina. Women are not on the same level as men physically. Anyone that tries to argue that probably majored in gender studies or something along those lines and wants to be referred by the fifty something genders that those lost souls came up with. Statistics are in favor for men.

For pure athletics I would agree with you, however as physically demanding race driving is, being a fighter pilot is even more physically demanding - these guys have to be able to pull a sustained 9Gs without passing out - and there are plenty of women fighter pilots, and have been over the years.

Motor racing does demand that you are physically in top form, and thereafter, in the environment of the car, neither sex would hold an advantage over the other.

As for the lack of women racing drivers, I tend to put that down to lack of interest. It's as difficult for me to convince my GF to watch F1 as it is for her to convince me to watch a RomCom. From my observations, and they are by no means conclusive, men and women simply have different interests. I think if @Famine, or another admin, was to delve in to the bowels of the forum and run a query on the gender demographic of this forum (only for those members that have actually provided their gender) then the result would be a membership that is overwhelmingly male, as it probably would on every other motorsports forum.

Don't ask me for the reason of the difference of interests between men and women. If I could answer that then I could probably afford do a "pay for ride" in F1

 

[kikie]

I hope these Formula women won't get lost on track. Maybe they could implement a GPS in their race car?


Lame, I know but I couldn't resist.

 

[Carbonox]

Maybe they should implement pink 'girl' zones in all F1 tracks, where upcoming female racers can drive around during races to gain more international screen time.

Even lamer than the above post.

 

[Slapped]

I hope these Formula women won't get lost on track. Maybe they could implement a GPS in their race car?


Lame, I know but I couldn't resist.

Maybe they should implement pink 'girl' zones in all F1 tracks, where upcoming female racers can drive around during races to gain more international screen time.

Even lamer than the above post.

To be honest this kind of thing doesn't really help with getting women into motor racing. Yeah, I know it's humour, and having grown up in the politically incorrect 70's I get it. However it's these sort of comments that I can see putting women off the whole idea.

 

[Northstar]

I just hope they plan on setting it up like the Road to Indy ladder where winning a championship pretty much guarantees a seat in the next level. If they don’t I have a hard time seeing this as more than a PR exercise.

 

[Famine]

FW, W-Series, same difference to me.

W Series will use F3-spec open wheel cars, races on FIA Grade 1 and Grade 2 circuits around Europe and has a selection process for the participants with a $1.5m prize pot.
Formula Woman used road cars, raced on domestic UK tracks - and kart tracks - and pretty much anyone, regardless of ability, could drive for £50.

Here's Formula Woman:

Just a hair different.

Any knowledge of why Formula Woman wasn’t ultimately successful?

Yeah. Formula Woman used road cars, raced on domestic UK tracks - and kart tracks - and pretty much anyone, regardless of ability, could drive for £50.

There were very few championship drivers, they raced barely altered road cars, they raced at provincial circuits no-one went to (and Brands Hatch, Oulton Park and Knockhill), they tried to tack a reality TV show onto it, it was badly run, badly advertised, poorly attended, the main sponsor pulled out after one season, there was no real "prize" involved and none of the racers went on to do anything else afterwards - with the possible exception of the first winner, Natasha Firman, who is Ralph Firman's sister.

 

[twitcher]

W Series will use F3-spec open wheel cars, races on FIA Grade 1 and Grade 2 circuits around Europe and has a selection process for the participants with a $1.5m prize pot.
Formula Woman used road cars, raced on domestic UK tracks - and kart tracks - and pretty much anyone, regardless of ability, could drive for £50.

Here's Formula Woman:

Just a hair different.

Yeah. Formula Woman used road cars, raced on domestic UK tracks - and kart tracks - and pretty much anyone, regardless of ability, could drive for £50.

There were very few championship drivers, they raced barely altered road cars, they raced at provincial circuits no-one went to (and Brands Hatch, Oulton Park and Knockhill), they tried to tack a reality TV show onto it, it was badly run, badly advertised, poorly attended, the main sponsor pulled out after one season, there was no real "prize" involved and none of the racers went on to do anything else afterwards - with the possible exception of the first winner, Natasha Firman, who is Ralph Firman's sister.

A hair different in practice, extremely similar in principle. To me, same difference. It’s affirmative action to try to get more female racing drivers, and FW or W-Series, in my opinion, it’s the wrong approach.

But what the hell do I know

 

[Famine]

To me, same difference. It’s affirmative action to try to get more female racing drivers, and FW or W-Series, in my opinion, it’s the wrong approach.

What's the right one?

Whether W Series is a solution depends on what your analysis of the problem is - or even if there is one. What W Series will give - and it's free to enter, so it will give - is a high-level, open-wheel race series that gives up to 20 female racing drivers who meet the selection criteria the experience of driving on FIA Grade 1 and 2 circuits around Europe in wings and slicks cars, with television coverage. And it'll give the winner $500,000 (with prize money down to 18th). That means it will give potential sponsors and racing teams a very, very easy way to see the racecraft and speed (and then the public personality in interviews, as well as social media engagement and following) of up to 20 female racing drivers who may have flown under the radar to this point. W Series will make these women marketable, potentially increasing the chances they'll get noticed by higher-level series and attract the funding to pay for the seat.

If your analysis of the problem is that there's too few women in high level motorsports because they don't get the opportunities, they don't get the exposure and they don't get the sponsorship, W Series would seem to be a solution.

There's also a trickle-down. Girls who see exclusively men doing things don't think women can do it. Girls who see mainly men doing things think it will be too hard for women to do it (but some try anyway). Girls who see women doing things think they can do them too. The more women we see in motorsport, the more women there will be in motorsport - not just driving, but engineering, design and mechanics. W Series may encourage more girls into STEM subjects.


If your analysis of the problem is that there's too few women in high level motorsports because sexist boys club for rich old men, this won't be a solution. I'm not sure what would be, apart from some kind of affirmative action that ensured a minimum percentage of women in any given FIA race series. I think the reaction to that would be... apoplexy.

 

[05XR8]

In such a series, even with the CEO being a woman, shouldn't the judging panel mainly be women ex-current drivers?

 

[SlipZtrEm]

I think if @Famine, or another admin, was to delve in to the bowels of the forum and run a query on the gender demographic of this forum (only for those members that have actually provided their gender) then the result would be a membership that is overwhelmingly male, as it probably would on every other motorsports forum.

Did you catch @Famine's stat on the split in F1?

Another way of saying that is that in the last 43 years, 99.5% of all F1 debutants have been male. That's a little bit beyond scarce.

Yeah, that's pretty much what the GTPlanet userbase is. It might hit 1%. Though as you hinted at, there's probably a fair amount of users who simply don't list their sex — for largely the same reason(s) I imagine women try to avoid pointing out their femaleness in gaming in general. Like this greeting them the very same day they join, for example:

 

[adb]

I would sum it up this way:
If you think women got a chance to be top F1 drivers, make sure there are more girls aged 6-12 doing karting.

If you think women can’t cut it against men at the very top, with high downforce cars, than go ahead and make women-only series that go alongside men series.

But this, this is neither of those really, it got a bit of the second with intention of first, but it just can’t work this way.

What are they gonna do? Drop in women that already made it to F4/F3/GP3? Where is this talent going to come from? To drive F3 car they would have to be 15-20yo, and there is not enough talented, young women with F1 potential in motorsport right now to make a competitive field for this series, let alone create a talent pool of potential female F1 drivers.

Unless they will have some genius testing methods that will give them ability to gauge some never-ever-raced-cars-or-even-karts-girl’s talent at a scale of Lance Stroll to Lewis Hamilton. Otherwise there is no point IMO

 

[Slapped]

Did you catch @Famine's stat on the split in F1?

Now that you mention it I did catch that earlier in the day, I just forgot to mention it in my post.

Yeah, that's pretty much what the GTPlanet userbase is. It might hit 1%. Though as you hinted at, there's probably a fair amount of users who simply don't list their sex — for largely the same reason(s) I imagine women try to avoid pointing out their femaleness in gaming in general. Like this greeting them the very same day they join, for example:

That is pretty much what I expected. And I think it's even more telling in terms of what suspect is a lack of interest in motorsport from women. Sim racing doesn't exactly have a high cost of entry, and I think those that are fans of motorsport will already have some form of sim racing setup even if it's just a PS or Xbox without wheel.

View attachment 772221

You know I just don't get this kind of response to a female member. On one hand it's really stupid and creepy, on the other hand I know guys who wouldn't harm a fly, let alone another human being, but socially they are totally incompetent when it comes to members of the opposite sex. I'd personally like to believe that comments like that are more down to social ineptitude rather than anything more sinister, but that does not make them right in any way.

 

[twitcher]

What's the right one?

To me, neither. I don’t think there is a lack of women in F1 because of either lack of opportunity, or because some guard of old boys is actively keeping them out.

I think there is a lack of women in F1 because there aren’t very many parents taking their 5-10 year old daughters to kart tracks - and that’s a sociatal issue, not a motorsport issue.

But things are changing!! With each passing generation, we see more and more women competing at higher and higher levels in previously male dominated sports. Today, we are seeing females win motorcycle world championships, there are more and more women at the local dirt bike track every time I go, people are starting to seriously debate whether or not Serina Williams can beat men....female mixed martial arts fighters challenging men to fights.

I really do not see how offering a free series to 20 mostly European women is going to get more 5-10 year old girls at kart tracks all over the world.

In my opinion, we don’t see women in F1 right now because none have demonstrated they are good enough. If there is a 10 year old girl out there with as much talent as a Lando Norris or Lewis Hamilton, then she’d be signed by a McLaren or the like, the same way those kids were. Fact is, those girls don’t exist right now (either that or F1 scouting is terrible). Everyone that I can think of who has progressed past F3 in recent memory, be it Ocon, Stroll, LeClerc, Russel, along with the likes of Joel Ericsson, Xou, Schumacher, Armstrong iirc, Ticktum, and more - all of these have been identified as top talents long BEFORE they reach the F3 level. For these kids, funding at the F3 level was not a problem, as they’d already demonstrated they were fast enough to warrant interest. Verstappen and Rosenqvest are the only two top F3 drivers I can think of who didn’t have official F1 connections before F3, but they both had their own unique connections (Jos for Max onviously, and Stephan Johansson for Felix).

Creating this W-Series is not going to help female talent catch up to the likes of a Verstappen, or Ocon, or LeClerc, who were already miles ahead of the competition before they reached F3. Its not going to help them catch up, and I don’t think it’s going to encourage more 5-10 year old girls to start karting, or more importantly, to be excellent in karting.


When you say

That means it will give potential sponsors and racing teams a very, very easy way to see the racecraft and speed (and then the public personality in interviews, as well as social media engagement and following) of up to 20 female racing drivers who may have flown under the radar to this point.

......why would a female racer who had genuine speed and exceptional racecraft be flying under the radar? If they were actually fast, wouldn’t they be on people’s radar?


Something I haven’t touched on, but your post brings up, is that marketability of these women. Yoikes. And how exactly would one go about making a young female racing driver “more marketable”? Perhaps by doing some photo shoots for FHM like Danica Patrick did? Or maybe being a Ralph Lauren fashion model like Lewis? I cringe at the fact that these 20 young women will be hand picked by a commitee - a commitee who’s ultimate goal is to get a female in F1. Like you mentioned, marketability is part of the puzzle to get to F1.....so mark my words, subconsciously or not, that commitee will take attraciveness and sexual appeal into account when picking their 20 candidates.

Speaking of Danica, are there any statistics which indicate that Danica’s prencese in NASCAR has boosted female participation in NASCAR’s junior series?

 

[MatskiMonk]

Speaking of Danica, are there any statistics which indicate that Danica’s prencese in NASCAR has boosted female participation in NASCAR’s junior series?

Not quite an infographic, but some interesting points from people actually involved.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/sport...danica-patrick-nascar-indycar-nhra/528855002/

 

[twitcher]

Not quite an infographic, but some interesting points from people actually involved.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/sport...danica-patrick-nascar-indycar-nhra/528855002/

My take away from that is that Danica hasn’t noticably enhanced female participation at a very young level...seems the author of the article is still waiting for that wave to occur.

I do find it interesting that the daughter of one Brian Deegan needs factory assistance from Toyota. It’s not quite on the same scale, but it’s similar in nature to saying Mick Schumacher needs Ferrari support to get through junior formula. Deegan was a professional Motocross racer in the 90s and early 2000s (a bad one, and a cheat), who’s real rise to fame (and relative wealth) came from being one of the pioneers behind The Metal Militia and freestyle motocross.

So SHE needs assistance from Toyota, meanwhile the son of Joe the construction worker who lives on a fraction of the money as Brian Deegan, that kid doesn’t get any help from Toyota because he made the mistake of choosing to grow a penis while in the womb.

 

[RHODRIEWILLIAMS]

I think this series is a great idea I had hoped for a Real World Championship getting the best Ladies to race to see who's the best Women in the world . My down sides are I hope the calender doesn't stop a lady racer competing the main stream championships.
why won't a Katherine legge turn up and walk off with £500k

My take away from that is that Danica hasn’t noticably enhanced female participation at a very young level...seems the author of the article is still waiting for that wave to occur.

I do find it interesting that the daughter of one Brian Deegan needs factory assistance from Toyota. It’s not quite on the same scale, but it’s similar in nature to saying Mick Schumacher needs Ferrari support to get through junior formula. Deegan was a professional Motocross racer in the 90s and early 2000s (a bad one, and a cheat), who’s real rise to fame (and relative wealth) came from being one of the pioneers behind The Metal Militia and freestyle motocross.

So SHE needs assistance from Toyota, meanwhile the son of Joe the construction worker who lives on a fraction of the money as Brian Deegan, that kid doesn’t get any help from Toyota because he made the mistake of choosing to grow a penis while in the womb.

Look Toyota want a USP and she has a USP so many great drivers don't get a shot. Money make's life easier Look at lando Norris great driver and his dad is worth £200million

 

[twitcher]

I think this series is a great idea I had hoped for a Real World Championship getting the best Ladies to race to see who's the best Women in the world . My down sides are I hope the calender doesn't stop a lady racer competing the main stream championships.
why won't a Katherine legge turn up and walk off with £500k

The series is open to any woman to APPLY to, but a commitee of mostly men will pick the 20 lucky drivers. Their goal is to get a young female in line for F1, so while the likes of Katherine Legge, or Kristina Nielsen, or Ashley Freyberg can apply all they want, the committee won’t pick them to race.


Just as an aside, I’m actually really curious to see the ethnic diversity of the first W-Series grid. I’m curious to see if a commitee who’s main motivation is diversity will be tempted to pick drivers based on the diversity of their background, as well as how capable they are behind the wheel.

Look Toyota want a USP and she has a USP so many great drivers don't get a shot. Money make's life easier Look at lando Norris great driver and his dad is worth £200million

Money makes life easier, agreed. But is she getting money from Toyota because she is fast, or because she is a woman? Norris comes from a wealthy background, but he also is the youngest ever world karting champion, taking that record away from Lewis Hamilton. McLaren didn’t sign Norris when he was 10 because he was a boy, they signed him because he was fast.

I don’t follow American junior oval racing at all. That article is the first I’ve heard of Deegan since I last heard about her father a few years back. So if I’m wrong in this, and she is being supported by Toyota because she is fast, and has been a champion in nearly every previous series she’s run, then good on her, and good on Toyota for finding a young talent. If, however, Toyota are supporting her primarily because she is a girl, that I don’t support.