W Series | USA and Mexico F1 Support Races Added to Calendar

[Paul Jeffrey]

The W Series have announced supporting slots at the 2020 Formula One US and Mexican Grand Prix.

Initially announcing a six-race calendar supporting the German DTM Series for their sophomore season, the all-female W Series have confirmed a surprising support slot for Formula One at two events this season, swelling the calendar to eight race weekends beginning with May's Igora Drive venue in Russia, before heading to Anderstorp, Monza, Norisring, Brands Hatch, Assen, Circuit of the Americas and finally ending up at the Mexican Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in October.

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“We at W Series are absolutely delighted that, in only our second season, our championship has been welcomed by Formula 1, and we’re utterly thrilled that the final two races of the 2020 W Series season will therefore take place as part of the Formula 1 platform" said W Series CEO Catherine Bond Muir.​

“Our two all-new races will follow six races on the DTM platform, making a very varied, extremely exciting and truly international eight-race championship, in eight countries across the globe. I’m particularly pleased that W Series will now stage races outside Europe, and the USA and Mexico are of course both very important new territories for us.​

2019 would prove to be an impressive debut season for the new category, with eventual series champion Jamie Chadwick going on to secure a junior role with the Williams Formula One team, alongside defending her championship title this year.

For 2020, the top 12 drivers from last year are automatically eligible to participate in the new season, with eight places open for eligible drivers to attempt to qualify for participation in the championship. Late last year an impressive 40 drivers applied for the remaining seats in the category, with 18 drivers in total currently confirmed for the opening round of the season on May 30th.

Original Source: W Series website


Want to share our thoughts, opinions and knowledge of the W Series championship? Start a thread over in the Motorsport sub forum here at RaceDepartment!

 

[Ricardo Rey]

I welcome this series and look forward to seeing them at COTA. I would love to see more non-American road series come here.

 

[welshy46]

what a load of bollocks. Oh no wait. A complete lack of.

 

[Jonny Austin]

This series is an odd one.
If the series aim is to encourage females to watch,take an interest in motorsport & create more opportunities for women to become professional drivers then it does a good job.I can see a few becoming GT or LMP2 drivers.Will it be sustainable doing this?Not really sure.If it makes a profit then it will continue.

If it is aiming to get a female driver to F1 then it is going to miss the target.If any female driver is fast enough through karting & into F4 they will follow a Raikkonen/Hamilton/Rosberg career path guided by a management team that is investing their money with a massive payoff in F1.That will not include W series.

 

[Nevini]

Motorsport is open to all, why do we have to have an event just for woman?
I thought it was all about inclusivity?

 

[MinDer_K.]

Motorsport is open to all, why do we have to have an event just for woman?
I thought it was all about inclusivity?

According to Wikipedia, W-series "was created in response to the lack of female drivers progressing to the highest levels of motorsport", and that's the case.
I think it's a good thing they have they own championship to progress and avoid the constant comparison to racingboys.

Motosport is maybe open to all, but you have to agree it's a mannish field; umbrella girls don't count, of course
See for yourself:

what a load of bollocks. Oh no wait. A complete lack of.

You don't necessarily need balls for motorsport (expect for rally and bikes), just a sensitive butt and good brain

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

If it is aiming to get a female driver to F1 then it is going to miss the target.If any female driver is fast enough through karting & into F4 they will follow a Raikkonen/Hamilton/Rosberg career path guided by a management team that is investing their money with a massive payoff in F1.

Tell that to Taru Rinne

 

[LeSunTzu]

According to Wikipedia, W-series "was created in response to the lack of female drivers progressing to the highest levels of motorsport", and that's the case.
I think it's a good thing they have they own championship to progress and avoid the constant comparison to racingboys.

Motosport is maybe open to all, but you have to agree it's a mannish field; umbrella girls don't count, of course
See for yourself:

You don't necessarily need balls for motorsport (expect for rally and bikes), just a sensitive butt and good brain

There is currently a hot debate in chess about women championships/tournaments/ratings. Somehow this is similar to racing as there is no obvious physiological reason why women would be at a disadvantage in the sport. Judit Polgar, the best female chess player ever, has made very clearly the point that women-only series do not help but hinder the development of female players, that they are a waste of money and efforts that would be better directed at detecting and coaching new players. As a matter of fact the second-best female chess player ever, Hou Yifan, has also refused to play in women-only tournaments.

Michele Mouton was a WC contender in rallying in the early 80s. Lella Lombardi was a strong driver in the 70s and she got a chance at F1. Danica Patrick had several strong seasons in Indycar. Evidence that women can compete in top-level racing.

There is no real reason to have this W series except to provide female drivers a chance at becoming pros even if they don't have the level to reach top racing formulas. The problem is that goal is not even reached as the W series media coverage is nil and the series is unlikely to survive very long in its current state.

 

[MinDer_K.]

Somehow this is similar to racing as there is no obvious physiological reason why women would be at a disadvantage in the sport.

There IS at least one reason, put in evidence by a road safety agent. We have road's dangers prevention days at work and I asked why harness aren't in every cars due to the better safety.
Answer was direct: women' breast, that's why safety belts in everyday cars are like that.
Now imagine having your balls squeezed everytime you brake

Michele Mouton was a WC contender in rallying in the early 80s. Lella Lombardi was a strong driver in the 70s and she got a chance at F1. Danica Patrick had several strong seasons in Indycar. Evidence that women can compete in top-level racing.

I see those one or two per decade as exceptions, proving that's possible. That's not exactly what I call a good representation.

There is no real reason to have this W series except to provide female drivers a chance at becoming pros even if they don't have the level to reach top racing formulas.

How many pros drivers have been engaged because they had a sponsors and not necesseraly talent,
while you had "start and park" teams or no wheel at all?
Being a pro driver (or just drive a F1 once!) is a dream for some people, even if some know they won't be the next Schumacher.
I don't see what's wrong with W-series while others promoting or forming series have the same goal, even NASCAR has a program called "drive fo diversity" including two young women this year.

The problem is that goal is not even reached as the W series media coverage is nil and the series is unlikely to survive very long in its current state.

After only one year of existence, it's maybe too soon to borrow this serie. If sponsors can still have their money back and new audience to convince, they can make it run as long they want.
I remember how female professionnal soccer was mocked in the 80s and now they have their worldcup on TVs.

 

[LeSunTzu]

If you are going to multiquote, then don't skip some parts in the slicing and don't ignore the message I was replying to.

Again I don't think the W series will in any way enable the best female drivers to progress. If it allows them to become pros, great, but it did not have the best of starts for that.

Last, if you think there should be "a good representation" based on gender in top level racing, then you deny the nature of the sport. It is a competition and if it is meant to represent anything, it is the best drivers and nothing else.

 

[RufGTI]

The thing is that W Series should (additionally) exist on the F4 step of the open wheeler career ladder. The biggest credit you can give to W Series right now is that they provide 18 free fulltime F3 seats and lots of good training. The problem is that at least in the first season the average talent level just wasn't high enough. It just tells something when in a 18-car-grid of spec-cars, all operated by the same team, only 6 drivers score podiums in the course of 6 races.

If the organizers of W Series would be really serious about their aims they should scour the world's karting championships for talented female drivers to fund an F4 drive for. The solution is not to scrape together “what's there“ and handle those F3 drives to mid-20s Ferrari Challenge alumnis.

 

[Emery]

Motorsport is open to all, why do we have to have an event just for woman?
I thought it was all about inclusivity?

It is, but... the few women with training and talent are currently spread too thin between race series for other women to point to that motorsports are a reasonable career. For every woman you can find as professional racers, there are 30 or more men. And being a pro often requires access to money (Danica Patrick's early career funded by her father).

So here's a series (and its not the first, Panoz had one in 1999 & 2000) where all the competitors are women and women outside the sport can easily point to this collection of female drivers to say "gosh, its not completely a man's field after all".

Total talent, though, is still a numbers game. To find an F1 champion among women will require having as many women enter F1 as men. As long as that number for women is substantially less than men, then you're highly unlikely to see a female F1 champion.

 

[welshy46]

@MinDer_K.

Michele Mouton managed to win races and finished second to Walter Rohrl in the world rally championships in 1982 while being testicularly disadvantaged. Did she require special dispensation for her lack of lower body external reproductive organs or was it because she was talented enough to compete at the top flight of her chosen sport.

 

[MinDer_K.]

@welshy46
that was a reference to the quote/joke "you don't necessarily needs balls for road racing, but both are needed for rallying". My point wasn't reducing Michele Mouton's skills (or anybody) by lacking of anything, but the opposite.

 

[Nevini]

@MinDer_K.

All sport not just motorsport, should not have separate events for men and woman.
inclusivity means we are all in it togeteher, nothing should ever be decided by gender.

Until the happens we will continue down the same path which is a shame.

Ps. don't get me started on the beautiful game, womans football is so poor it's laughable.

 

[BrunoBæ]

Judit Polgar, the best female chess player ever, has made very clearly the point that women-only series do not help but hinder the development of female players, that they are a waste of money and efforts that would be better directed at detecting and coaching new players. As a matter of fact the second-best female chess player ever, Hou Yifan, has also refused to play in women-only tournaments.

My own conclusion about such W series is that they are created of often well-meaning MEN who often dont have a clue of what competing and skilled women in the respective categories/sports does prefer.

 

[BrunoBæ]

If the organizers of W Series would be really serious about their aims they should scour the world's karting championships for talented female drivers to fund an F4 drive for.

Pretty good point.
In our local danish junior karting championships some of the best drivers are women/young girls.
But to the contrary of the best boy drivers they mostly "disappear" when they should enter the senior ranks.
When they are asked the answer is often "other priorities".

 

[Ricardo Rey]

My own conclusion about such W series is that they are created of often well-meaning MEN who often dont have a clue of what competing and skilled women in the respective categories/sports does prefer.

I agree. My hope as an realist/optimist is that eventually women run the show. The "well-meaning men" are meaning well I think. But something is better than nothing. Shoot for the stars and at least you get to the moon. If you don't try, you stay where you are. We all deserve a shot; regardless of race, gender, color etc.
There's always going to be greed, politics, selfish motives. Let's work around that...not complain.

 

[welshy46]

@MinDer_K.

All sport not just motorsport, should not have separate events for men and woman.
inclusivity means we are all in it togeteher, nothing should ever be decided by gender.

Until the happens we will continue down the same path which is a shame.

Ps. don't get me started on the beautiful game, womans football is so poor it's laughable.

The height of contradictory thinking. You think women and men should compete alongside each other but not in the sports that you like to watch. So to you the England women's rugby team should be playing against the New Zealand all blacks, or there shouldn't be anything preventing a male v female MMA bout?, but don't you dare let women play football because that would spoil your enjoyment of your preferred sport.

 

[BrunoBæ]

The height of contradictory thinking.

Its difficult to understand what you are attacking because you quote someone who again are quoting another post.
But without directly quoting anyone then my oppinion is that in any sport where the gender based difference in physics dont matter - then men and women should be allowed to compete in the same series/sports.
Thats also the reason chess and motorsport has been mentioned as a reasonable area where men and women should be able to compete on equal terms.