F1 weekend for women drivers

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has proposed a controversial world championship for women drivers as part of grand prix weekends.

“I thought it would be a good idea to give them a showcase,” he revealed to reporters after proposing the idea to team principals. “For some reason, women are not coming through – and not because we don’t want them,” added the Briton. “Of course we do, because they would attract a lot of attention and publicity and probably a lot of sponsors.

“We have to start somewhere so I suggested to the teams that we have a separate championship and maybe that way we will be able to bring someone through to F1.”

Ecclestone, who has two daughters but once infamously compared women to kitchen appliances, suggested they could race before the main event on Sunday, or on Saturday.

No woman has competed in a Formula One race since Italian Lella Lombardi in 1976, although several have secured roles with teams in recent years and others have competed in junior series and in the United States. She scored half a point in 1975 when she finished sixth in a Spanish Grand Prix shortened by a fatal accident.

The last woman to try and race in Formula One was Italian Giovanna Amati, who failed to qualify with Brabham in 1992. However, Susie Wolff is a development driver at Williams and last year became the first female to take part in a grand prix weekend in 22 years when she drove in free practice.

Spaniard Carmen Jorda, whose record in other series is unimpressive, has also been appointed a development driver at Lotus.

Wolff, wife of Mercedes motorsport head Toto, gave Ecclestone’s idea short shrift. “It’s most definitely not the right way forward,” she said. “First of all, I don’t know where you’d find a full grid of female drivers who are good enough. Secondly, I have raced my whole career in motorsport as a normal competitor. Why would I ever look for a race where I was only competing against women?
“I can hand-on-heart say it would not interest me at all to win such a race … a race where they’ve just looked for any girl to make a grid up.”

Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, BIC chief executive, was more diplomatic. He said: “I think racing is a competitive sport. It doesn’t differentiate between male or female or anything like that; it’s based on timing and the skill that comes into that.

“I don’t think there should be something specific for women or for men but if it helps having an individual series for women, for them to build up that skill set and give them that experience, then so be it – perhaps have a series where these skills can be fostered or grown in a competitive environment, not putting them against guys that have been driving for years, but putting them against the best like-minded women racers for a chance to triumph.

“In my opinion, and what I think Bernie could be doing, is highlighting this during F1 to give the competition a proper platform for everyone to hear about it. I think it’s the perfect opportunity to do that. I don’t know enough if this is happening, or not, but in my opinion, the F1 element is the platform.

“Either way, the objective is to highlight that women can drive as well, if not better than men, and the best place to showcase that is during F1 because there is so much media.”