F1 Academy: the light in the dark for women in motorsports
Welcome to the 2023 F1 Season.
This is what millions of fans heard this weekend. Finally, after a three month long break, the most elite motorsports in the world, Formula One, is back.
If I ask you to think about F1, what would you imagine? Just take a moment… Well, the answer to this will depend on if you are a fan of the sport or not.
What I am sure of is that none of you pictured a female driver.
The reason for not thinking about them is simple – there are none on the grid.
The reality is that motorsports are a male dominated environment, where females have to fight harder to be able to have a seat in the inferior categories of the sport.
This has to change. This has to stop.
Women are talented enough to be in motorsports.
Female drivers can be in Formula One.
The F1 Academy has come as part of the solution to this dynamic that has been stuck in the sport since the foundation of Formula One in 1946.
2023 will be the opening season for F1 Academy.
Prema Racing F1 Academy driver, Bianca Bustamante said, “We will have a space in the sport, we can learn, progress and grow. People don’t realise that there are so many women out there trying to be female racing engineers, mechanics, tire changers. This shows how inclusive the sport can be, we just need a platform to show it.”
The program will consist of an all female series where more track time and more technical and physical preparation will be given to the drivers. The aim is to create competitive drivers to pursue F3 and F2 categories.
The fifteen F1 Academy drivers will compete in eight Grand Prix with three races per weekend. The closing event will be the pick of it, they will be part of the F1 weekend in the Austin Grand Prix.
The failure of the W Series
This comes one year after the W Series was canceled due to a lack of budget. The aim of the all female competition that started in 2019 was to increase the presence of female drivers in motorsports. During the third season (2022) it was cancelled. They couldn’t make it profitable enough to keep racing the last three races of the season.
The W Series was designed to be an equivalent of F2 and F3 for women. The purpose was to create competitive categories for new and consolidated female drivers, but they failed to create as many opportunities as had been promised.
During the 2021 season, the series alternated their races with the ones of F3 and F2 at the weekend, but the lack of interest of the broadcasters ensured the series never gained any fan base.
As a result, in 2022 they had to cancel the series with the plan of funding budget for the 2023 season. Since that day there was no notice of a W Series happening this season.
The W Series was a clear failure.
Rodin Carlin F1 Academy driver, Jessica Edgar said, “When the W Series finished there was nothing for girls to do, then F1 stepped in and created a new championship.”
Now, F1 Academy has all the pressure on them. This series will proportionate the opportunities and show the talent of these young female drivers that want to make it to the top. F1 Academy must learn from the mistakes of the W Series.
Contrary to the W Series, the F1 Academy is part of the F1 aim to develop the sport.
Counting with F1 and FIA the main organisations of the sport, means that they are supporting them, that they are watching them, scouting for new talent.
“F1 truly believes in women is the main idea. If they seriously believe, people believe it and they support that. They are pioneers in the sport and they have opened the way for women in motorsports. Their intrusion in F1 Academy is important,” said Bustamante
F1 Academy is already starting in the right place. The series is not made with the purpose of being a permanent place for these drivers. It is designed as a tool for teaching the mental and physical skills drivers need in order to become F3, F2 or even F1 drivers.
The W Series worked as an independent organisation that was the equivalent of the F2 and F3. So, the aim was not to achieve entry into these categories, it was to have a parallel one, but of female drivers.
Everybody knows that F3, F2 and F1 are the top categories, and that is the place that all drivers want to be. You don’t want to be in the W Series forever, you want to be a F1 driver.
“It doesn’t mean one series and there is going to be one F1 driver the next day. It doesn’t happen like that , it is continuous building, working, and growth. Get the support and the help from a team that knows how to build that talent,” said Bustamante.
F1 Academy is a breath of fresh air for these female drivers that have the talent to be fighting with the male drivers to become the next World Champion.
“My expectations are to move one day to F3, F2 or F1,” said the Rodin Carlin driver.
Sussie Wolff is going to be the face and head of F1 Academy, with her role as managing director.
Wolff is the WOMEN in motorsports, she has achieved what many female drivers dream about.
Wolff was a Williams development driver from 2012 to 2014. In the 2014 Silverstone Grand Prix she was the first woman to take part in a Formula One race in 22 years. She has been the team principal of Venturi Formula E since 2018, becoming in 2021 CEO of the same team.
This project brings hope for a sport that, up until now, has “banned” women from competing in the same categories as their male counterparts.
