The second season of the all-female F1 Academy starts in Saudi Arabia this week but Jamie Chadwick, Britain’s top woman racer, recognises there is a long way to go before Formula One’s male monopoly ends.
A triple champion in the defunct W Series, and now racing in America, Chadwick agrees with Williams boss James Vowles that it will be years before a female driver appears on a grand prix starting grid.
Moves to boost female participation in motorsport are picking up pace but it has been nearly half a century since Italian Lella Lombardi started a grand prix in 1976.
“I think he’s right,” Chadwick, 25, told Reuters when reminded of Vowles’ comments last year that the breakthrough would happen but not soon.
“I think what we’re doing is growing the amount of participation and that’s increasing the talent pool,” she added at a karting event for girls at Whilton Mill north of Silverstone.
“Naturally that’s just going to increase the odds of female drivers filtering through to the top, but what we are lacking now is performance at the feeder series level.
“We’ve not really seen that many women (competing) at F2 level or F3 level.”
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Chadwick is part of the Williams Driver Academy and is mentoring 17-year-old American Lia Block, daughter of the late rally driver Ken, in F1 Academy where she will race an F4 car with the ART team.
The Briton will not be in Jeddah as she is racing for Andretti Global in IndyCar’s Indy NXT feeder series season opener in Florida on Sunday.
GRASSROOTS
In the meantime, Chadwick is getting back to grassroots.
On Friday, International Women’s Day, Britain’s three Daytona Motorsport kart tracks will offer ‘females race for free” access with the possibility of competing in a ‘Jamie Chadwick Series’ with funding and a mentorship to be won.
Chadwick said the aim of the year-long series was to build interest and create “a community and a safe space for those who maybe felt intimidated”.
“I started when I was 12 and until I was about 15 or 16 I hadn’t even been in a paddock with another female driver,” she recalled.
“There were a couple of girls in karting but I never really competed directly against them as such.
“Fortunately I didn’t necessarily feel too intimidated or put off by that but for sure they are environments that wouldn’t appeal to everyone.”
So much has changed since then that Chadwick said four or five girls were testing when she made a recent trip to Whilton Mill.
“I’d never seen that many girls at a karting event and they all had different programmes and initiatives that they were already involved with,” she added.
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COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES
The F1 Academy has five three-car teams run by Formula Two and Three outfits, with Formula One teams each having one driver racing in their liveries. Some others race in the colours of sponsors.
“I think the commercial opportunities of something like F1 Academy are going to be significant, especially with the support of Formula One,” said Chadwick.
“Hopefully that helps whoever’s successful in it to achieve the right funding and support to be able to go through the next levels in the best way possible.”
Last year’s winner Spaniard Marta Garcia has moved to a fully-funded drive in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA), a series below Formula Three.
Chadwick’s immediate future lies in America, with a move to IndyCar a prime target while the IMSA sportscar championship could be another option.
In her first year of Indy NXT, she finished 12th. The target now is podiums and wins and she is approaching it with renewed vigour.
“I’ve changed my training a huge amount,” she said.
“I know (Williams F1 driver) Logan Sargeant was saying he’s put on quite a lot of weight, I’ve also put on about four kilos in this winter just to get strong enough. I feel really good about that.”
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