The female factor

Most of people can’t even remember when the discussions about women in Formula 1 have actually started. But it’s time for less talk and more action.

Although Maria Teresa De Filippis contested in Formula 1 in the late 1950s, for long the main argument against women in motorsport’s elite category was that they could not withstand the physical demands of a two-hour race. While this may have rung true for the 1970s and 1980s – not to mention the exceptions Lella Lombardi, Divina Galica or Gianna Amati – with macho males racing in their 1,000 HP powered cars with enormous corner speeds, things have changed entirely today. Racing legends like Niki Lauda, Emerson Fittipaldi or Helmut Marko have declared several times in the past few months that the physical strain has become much smaller than in their days.

Women catching up

The days when women were lacking both the experience and the technical understanding for top category racing are long gone. Today, female drivers compete in all sorts of series all over the globe. And Danica Patrick (IndyCar), Michela Cerruti (AutoGP), Katherine Legge (Formula Atlantic), Beitske Visser (ADAC Formula Masters), Chelsea Angelo (F3 Australia) or Abbie Eaton (Mazda MX5 Cup) have proven that winning is definitely not out of the question. Several female drivers have participated in non-competition testing and evaluation sessions with Formula 1 teams in the 2000s.

Instead of ghettoising them in a women’s Formula 1 support series as recently suggested by supremo Bernie Ecclestone, the sport should finally dare to think outside the box and set the women on racing for points.

IndyCar driver Sarah Fisher performed a demonstration run with McLaren at the 2002 United States Grand Prix, Legge tested with Minardi at the Vallelunga Circuit in 2005, Williams signed Susie Wolff in 2012 as a development and test driver, as did Marussia with María de Villota. In 2014, Sauber signed IndyCar Series driver Simona de Silvestro with the goal of having her compete in 2015, and ahead of this season Lotus F1 gave Carmen Jordá a contract as their development driver.

Hypocrisy everywhere

However, when the going gets tough, Formula 1 teams regularly show the white feather. A latest example was when Williams’ top driver Valtteri Bottas injured his back during qualifying at the season opening Australian GP. Susie Wolff could not breach the gap in Melbourne due to regulations – she had not participated in any previous sessions of the race weekend – but she could have replaced the Finn at the recent Malaysian GP, had he not recovered. However, instead of preparing the 32-year-old for her Grand Prix debut, the team acquired unemployed Adrian Sutil in a cloak and dagger operation. The situation with Jorda is another way of abusing women in the sport. Cash-strapped Lotus got the attractive Spaniard on board, who has not only got model looks, but also strong financial backing.

De Silvestro shared a very similar fate at Sauber. In February 2014, the Swiss team announced that the racer would join the team as an “affiliated driver” and undergo a year-long training programme with the team to prepare her for a drive in 2015. De Silvestro began testing with the team at the end of April 2014 and completed 112 laps in Fiorano. However, in October 2014, Sauber team boss Monisha Kaltenborn stated the team had suspended de Silvestro’s driving chances due to contractual troubles – basically not enough money had flown into hard-up Sauber’s pockets. So another hopeful was a lost cause. And that although Simona had proven her racing pedigree becoming Indy 500 “Rookie of the Year” in 2010 and also the first woman to finish on the podium on a street circuit in the IndyCar series. As long as female drivers are used as a gimmick with no real intention of letting them race, it will make life hard for candidates to be taken seriously. Visser, Tatiana Calderon, and Samin Gomez are just a few names out there to watch.

Marketing rough diamonds

Modern Formula 1 has often been criticised of lacking real characters like Ayrton Senna, Niki Lauda, James Hunt, Nigel Mansell to name but a few. Just imagine what a successfully racing female could do for the sport and its TV figures? For years, Danica Patrick has drawn additional crowds both in IndyCar and NASCAR. She is not just racing’s Anna Kournikova, whose looks were amazing, but who never won a major tennis title. Danica Patrick is good, she is exceptionally good. And she is by no means the only one out there.

It’s hard to understand why not many more female drivers are stormed by sponsors as they can combine ice cold driving skills and sex appeal, both loved by racing fans alike. Instead of ghettoising them in a women’s Formula 1 support series as recently suggested by supremo Bernie Ecclestone, the sport should finally dare to think outside the box and set the women on racing for points.

In the course of the long needed budget reduction, expenditures for high tech tools should be largely cut, and some of the surplus invested in extended test days and two test drivers per team, one male and one female. That way, talented women could grow into Formula 1 racing gradually and be ready to battle Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel or Fernando Alonso.