Suzie Woolf Quits F1

[Nitrodaze]

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.

But Andy, all the motorsport series you have listed are all mainly european dominated series. Most team bosses in these series are european, hence the female racers have to force their way through several layers of resistance and negativity to a place in any level of motorsport within the european domain. Of course Vicky Piria in her debut year of 2012 for Trident in the GP3 series did not score a single point that season. The team was bearly a midfield team.

I am a regular visitor to Buckmore park in Kent. And l can tell you that l have seen many truly brilliant girl racers on that track that would make your jaw drop. I watch their brilliant performances and think to my self that this brilliant young talent that l am witnessing is unlikely to make it in the racing world because of the barrier she must fight her way through to get any form of recognition for her talent.

I don't think the normal feeder series for F1 would produce female racers at the moment. They would have to come from other similar level series such as Indycar and Nascar where they would have gained some experience and have become race hardened. If Montoya can transition to F1 from the indycar/Nascar series and make his mark in F1, the race winning female Nascar or Indycar driver would definitely be able to pull her weight in F1.

It is interesting that you identify that the problem runs deep into the grassroots of european motor racing. These layers of barriers are only going to ensure that european female racers like Carmen Jorda have to make their way into F1 via the Nascar/Indycar series. Even so, it is still very hard for them.