W Series: 40 Drivers Express Interest in Season 2

[Enagee]

I watched this series and enjoyed and some of the racing moves were ridiculous, but nevertheless I enjoyed it especially on tracks I know and when helmets are on its only about one thing... Racing... Maybe we might get more female Sim racers

 

[Neilski]

I didn't really like the concept of this series, right from the start. But I decided that since it was happening I might as well give it the benefit of the doubt, and I've watched every race.

There was some good racing but not as much as I hoped for. (But F1 is so dull these days that it wasn't really worse than sitting through a GP and at least the races are shorter )

The really major disappointment for me (and many others) has been the weakness of the racing field. As people have already commented above, the same people were in the top few places again and again.
Much worse, the racing wasn't even close for the minor placings most of the time, as it should have been with nominally identical cars. The gaps in the bottom half of the placings were frequently multiple seconds.
I also feel that this weakness must have been behind the rather odd decision not to show us the qually times for the whole field.
The skill and racecraft from several of the slower drivers were so poor that I think it was a disservice to both them and the series to allow them in at all. (I'd hazard a guess that the organisers feel the same way now?)

The words of one of the drivers - Shea Holbrook - stuck with me for the whole series, because the little snippet of her talking to camera before race 1 turned out to be horrifically misguided: "I wouldn't be here if I didn't think I could win it". She was in the last few places at every opportunity... (Weirdly, her overall racing career hasn't been the total disaster that her W-series performance had led me to expect, so I'm a bit confused about her atrocious record in the 6 sessions we saw.)

I can only hope that the field is better next year, or tbh I probably won't bother with it a second time around.

 

[BrunoBæ]

For any german speaking or maybe google translator users, here is Sophia Flörsch opinion on the W Series:
https://www.spiegel.de/sport/sonst/...sch-kritisiert-w-series-scharf-a-1281895.html

I must admit that this girl show some... ah courage and sounds pretty intelligent too.
Hehe if I when I was 18 had been able to understand the world and express myself so clear I would be proud of myself today
But maybe the text on her driversuit is not a sheer coincident: Dare to be different.

Racing driver Sophia Flörsch sees in the all-female W race series a further derogatory assessment of the female drivers by the organizers.
"Unfortunately, they simply give the arguments to many voices in the men's world of motorsport, in which women are rated as not as capable as men,"
said the 18-year-old German to the "Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung".

Flörsch drives for the Dutch racing team van Amersfoort in the Fia Formula Regional European Championship, which is open to both women and men.
"The truth comes to the table when the participants have to prove themselves against the best in their sport, because this is the reality," she argued.

 

[galefoce97]

This is good to hear, hopefully this'll mean more drivers at the front. This season was a good start and I hope to see things improve next year

 

[Damage Inc]

For real?

The audience for this is objectively bigger than for Formula E. You do know how many women there are in this world compared to the ecolobobo-brigade right?

wait what? why are you assuming most of the women on the planet give a damn about motorsports, out of all the women I know (wife, mother, mother in law, sisters in law, Aunts, Nieces) hardly any of them care about motorsport. The audience amongst women is a LOT smaller than people think.

 

[Neilski]

This is good to hear, hopefully this'll mean more drivers at the front.

Hmm, I want the same, but I'm not sure how optimistic to be: 40 is actually a smaller group than they had going into the selection process for year 1. (Total of 61 applications, with 7 withdrawals before the process began.)

I sincerely hope that the 40 doesn't include the 8 from this year who didn't get automatic entry.
Either way, the quantity is lower but let's see how the quality goes...

 

[Neilski]

wait what? why are you assuming most of the women on the planet give a damn about motorsports, out of all the women I know (wife, mother, mother in law, sisters in law, Aunts, Nieces) hardly any of them care about motorsport. The audience amongst women is a LOT smaller than people think.

Agreed. BUT remember how things go - example: when a Dutch driver starts winning races in F1, a hell of a lot more Dutch people start attending races and buying F1 content.
Presumably the view is (rightly or wrongly) that the motorsport market will get bigger if women are successful in it.

 

[Fat-Alfie]

But do Dutch people who don't care about F1 start taking an interest in F1? Are new fans created? Or are existing fans just more energised and proactive?

 

[Durge Driven]

In years to come their cars will get faster, more rounds in WC and W series will become the feeder series, only then women start to get experience after century

 

[Neilski]

But do Dutch people who don't care about F1 start taking an interest in F1? Are new fans created? Or are existing fans just more energised and proactive?

Yeah, excellent questions. I have no clue!
Personally I don't really give a monkey's if I watch a grid full of men or women. I just want to watch good racing. But a lot of motorsport decisions (not unreasonably, I have to admit!) seem to be driven entirely by money.
Those Dutch fans (new or otherwise) are certainly putting more money into the sport. But did the sport lose a bunch of Russian fans when Kvyat got demoted? Net win/loss/neutral? Have to ask the F1 accountants that one

 

[galefoce97]

Presumably the view is (rightly or wrongly) that the motorsport market will get bigger if women are successful in it.

The way I've looked at it is that if someone from this series gets a chance in F1 and does well then it encourages more women interested in motorsports to try. In the worst case scenario where someone gets there and is terrible then there's going to be at least some people that look at her and think "I could do better" and maybe that will be what brings someone with the skill needed into the picture.

 

[Damage Inc]

I think Paul title for this article 'cements' the basis for this series.
"40 Drivers Express Interest in Season 2"
That ...to me anyway, suggest added interest through the exposure brought about by Season 1.
Racing at the professional level is a 'cut-throat', results-based business.
The W-series aims to allow young girls to develop into full fledged racers, without guys coming in and taking over everything.
Good for them, if over time they produce and promote girls into other series.
I have absolutely 'zero' problems with that.
Then again...I'm a secure guy.
My ego doesn't get bruised very easily.

1st off....how could "guys" coming in and "taking over everything" happen?........I'm assuming you mean "winning"?

Then we get to the last bit of your post......smh. People need to understand that the main point of the term "positive discrimination" is the word "discrimination".....and when you have a society that accepts that some forms of "discrimination" are better than others you have a non equal society. You don't balance things by tipping the scale the other way.

For the record I'd really like to know how many people knew or give a **** that a girl won the Supersport 300 series last year on the World Superbikes Calender? and she BEAT everyone dicks and all........oh it's only important if it's FOUR wheels eh?

 

[Fat-Alfie]

EDIT - nevermind...

 

[Damage Inc]

Agreed. BUT remember how things go - example: when a Dutch driver starts winning races in F1, a hell of a lot more Dutch people start attending races and buying F1 content.
Presumably the view is (rightly or wrongly) that the motorsport market will get bigger if women are successful in it.

But I presume these are existing fans of motorsports who just get more excited when one of their own is good (like Spain with Alonso, F1 was always less popular than GP500/MGP until then). My wifes dad is a motorsport nut, yet his wife and 2 daughters do not like it at all, he took his wife to races and she hated it, the girls didn't watch motorsports with him.

girls who are already interested in motorsports should be encouraged but I find the idea that there's a great untapped wealth of interest from females is flawed.

I'd like to say that I would bet a lot of money that EVERY girl into racing has done so with massive support from male members of her family.

 

[Jonathan Young]

But do Dutch people who don't care about F1 start taking an interest in F1? Are new fans created? Or are existing fans just more energised and proactive?

Yes, of course new fans are created, lots of young ones for sure. Personally, I didn’t get into F1 until Damon Hill’s championship run in 1996 - because both he and I are British. I was hooked from then on.

W Series is simply about trying to shine a light on women in the sport and in that way - perhaps - encourage more women to participate and watch. That’s got to be a good thing. It’s not political correctness gone mad - that would be mandating that 50% of F1 drivers have to be women. That would be stupid. This is not.

This is simply a marketing attempt to get more women excited about the sport. It would be GREAT if we could continue to cover the W Series without the hysteria. There are many of us who are genuinely interested in how it turns out and who would like to see more women in motor sports generally - on the basis of genuine ability, and not at the expense of more competent men, of course.

 

[Ruy Horta]

But do Dutch people who don't care about F1 start taking an interest in F1? Are new fans created? Or are existing fans just more energised and proactive?

From personal experience, a lot of the current fans are not into racing, but are drawn into the hype that’s created by the media and the sponsors who make sure they generate as much exposure as possible.

My brother in law - early 50-ies - literally told me he did not care for F1 at all, just Max Verstappen. As he was watching a race he was actually pretty fanatic, but to me that’s like the antithesis of loving a sport for the sport. Of course this is not limited to the dutch liking Max Verstappen, but is repeated again and again - Ayrton Sennas, Boris Beckers, Lance Armstrongs etc just name your big national sports star that attracts huge interest from the mainstream.

The dutch ladies soccer team was doing well so they received more media attention. The more exposure they got, the more popular women’s football became in the mainstream and the more hype was generated. To me that is fake enthusiasm, or at least just a passing interest until the next fad.

Back to the topic, if there is no Max, there will be no mainstream dutch interest in F1, but for the time being attention is riding high, with Zandvoort being on the calendar and business standing in line (although maintaining Zandvoort will be a challenge on the long run).

Of course there are real fans, but they remain a minority. Ironically the one true fan I know cannot even get a reservation for a ticket to the first GP of Zandvoort. That’s a guy who has been following Verstappen since early days and spends a lot of his free time at Spa or Zandvoort.

 

[Ruy Horta]

Sitting between iRacing races, rambling too much.
Apologies to the Race Department staff - will step down from my soap box.

...this is a moment when Lord Flashheart should make his entry!

Or Henry 8.0

 

[Koen Verlinde]

wait what? why are you assuming most of the women on the planet give a damn about motorsports, out of all the women I know (wife, mother, mother in law, sisters in law, Aunts, Nieces) hardly any of them care about motorsport. The audience amongst women is a LOT smaller than people think.

Compared to the amount of pro-electric/eco group, the amount of women in the world is a lot bigger. I just worded it pretty badly in english, so the point got lost.

 

[Damage Inc]

Compared to the amount of pro-electric/eco group, the amount of women in the world is a lot bigger. I just worded it pretty badly in english, so the point got lost.

fair enough, larger "potential" audience....although I imagine there are more women into eco/green issues than men as well.

 

[Damage Inc]

From personal experience, a lot of the current fans are not into racing, but are drawn into the hype that’s created by the media and the sponsors who make sure they generate as much exposure as possible.

My brother in law - early 50-ies - literally told me he did not care for F1 at all, just Max Verstappen. As he was watching a race he was actually pretty fanatic, but to me that’s like the antithesis of loving a sport for the sport. Of course this is not limited to the dutch liking Max Verstappen, but is repeated again and again - Ayrton Sennas, Boris Beckers, Lance Armstrongs etc just name your big national sports star that attracts huge interest from the mainstream.

The dutch ladies soccer team was doing well so they received more media attention. The more exposure they got, the more popular women’s football became in the mainstream and the more hype was generated. To me that is fake enthusiasm, or at least just a passing interest until the next fad.

Back to the topic, if there is no Max, there will be no mainstream dutch interest in F1, but for the time being attention is riding high, with Zandvoort being on the calendar and business standing in line (although maintaining Zandvoort will be a challenge on the long run).

Of course there are real fans, but they remain a minority. Ironically the one true fan I know cannot even get a reservation for a ticket to the first GP of Zandvoort. That’s a guy who has been following Verstappen since early days and spends a lot of his free time at Spa or Zandvoort.

hmmm this is really interesting, and something I had not taken into account, the fact that people with no real interest in motorsport will get onboard purely because it's for women. There's no doubt in my mind W series will flourish for a bit as that's where the "trends" are and money talks a lot. But it all depends on whether or not the interest generated will sustain itself or if this will turn into a "fad".

Either way for me "who" I support is a mixture of nationality/vehicle/likeability. Gender will have no bearing on who I support.