W Series

​

 

14 July 2021

By: Paulina Vairo

​

There is no doubt that motorsport including Formula One, Nascar, Indy Car, and IMSA are all male-dominating sports. Though more women are getting involved in the sport, there are not many opportunities for women to participate in these sports. The W Series can change that in hopes of seeing more women drivers.

 

The W series launched back in 2018 as a free-to-enter tournament. The objective of the W Series is to create both gender and financial equalities in motorsport for women. It also gives women the same opportunity as men to advance and reach the goal of racing in a Formula One race.

 

Formula One is the most prestigious league of motorsport in the world. They travel to over 20 different countries and race on the most elite tracks in the world and race in one of the fastest cars in the world, reaching speeds of up to 220mph. The last time a female has raced in an official Formula One race was Lella Lombardi when she competed in the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix. She raced for Brabham-Ford and finished 24th in the race, making it her last appearance in a F1 race and the last time a female has appeared in an official race.

 

This season the W series will compete in eight races alongside Formula One and their fans on certain weekends this season. So far they have competed in five races this season. 2019 W-Series Champion Jaime Chadwick sits in first place so far with two wins on the season with comeback star Alice Powell right behind Chadwick with also two wins on the season.

 

The W Series is racing in front of Formula One fans this season in hopes to inspire more females to join the sport. They are a global empowerment organization that gives women drivers the opportunity to use their platform and create gender equality in motorsport. The ultimate goal for the W Series is to send a female driver to Formula One for the first time in 45 years.

 

The cars in the W Series are very similar to the cars used in Formula 3. They use a Tatuus F3 T-318 4-cylinder turbocharged 270 horsepower engine with the halo system and a front and rear carbon impact structures with Hankook as their tire supplier. Right now there are 18 drivers that participate in the W Series, representing countries from England, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, Brazil, Finland, Liechtenstein, Poland, Russia, Japan, Usa, and Italy. England dominates the grid with six drivers representing Great Britain. 

 

As much as the W Series is a good investment for females in motorsport, it has received criticism for sending the wrong message. British IndyCar driver Pippa Mann was one of the first to criticize the W Series as it is not promoting female drivers rather it is segregating them. 

 

“Those with funding to help female racers are choosing to segregate them as opposed to supporting them. I am deeply disappointed to see such a historic step backwards take place in my life time.” said Mann to NBC Sports back in 2018. 

 

Former team principal for Williams and the only female team principal at the time Clair Williams was also a very heavy critic of the W Series, stating that the W Series will cause a separation of women to motorsport, however had a change of opinion after watching a race back in 2019 when she saw the W Series race at the Hockenheimring in Germany. 

 

"It was good to go, it was a good education piece for me, and I thought it was fantastic” said Clair in 2019. "The fact that they managed to get a whole new championship, regardless if it's for men or women, off the ground in a short space of time was pretty impressive. Organisationally it seemingly went very smoothly. And then just to see a whole line of cars on the grid, knowing that they're all piloted by women, was a historic moment. I think it was fantastic, and it gives a platform for women that they don't have at the moment, and if anything accelerates the process of promoting women in motorsport.”