Originally Posted by
AndyL
The problem for F1, is where are the women drivers fighting for the championship in GP2, GP3 or FR3.5. And the problem for the teams in those championships, is where are the girls winning national F3 or Formula Ford races. And the problem for the national F3/FF teams is... well you get the picture.
The lack of progressive mentality that you mentioned is not at the level of F1, it's at the level of junior karting. And at that level, it's not organisations, corporations or teams with entrenched ideas. It's attitudes in families and society generally.
I think every F1 team would love to have a female driver racing in one of their cars, if they could find one fast enough. But a driver who's nowhere near good enough for F1 would do the cause more harm than good.
Perhaps the best thing F1 teams could do would be to drop their female drivers into competitive GP2 or GP3 seats, rather than having them standing around in the garage. But I suspect the current range of candidates would be found wanting even at that level. Bernie's idea of a separate women's world championship might actually be the best available option right now in terms of providing visible role models for young girls who might want to get into karting.