Quote Originally Posted by Starter View Post
Segregating women into a separate series is not the answer IMO.
Some schools in the U.S. now have girls only math and science classes for the very same reasons given by the organizers of this series. Don Panoz tried this same concept with GT racing back in the late 90's. Several of those women did go on to (limited) success in racing. Maybe this will provide something of a feeder for girls, maybe it won't. Personally, I see it more as a PC PR stunt (call me jaded and cynical). But anyway, I'm also of the opinion that putting girls in a "safe space", and then expecting them to be mentally/emotionally prepared when they go up against boys, who have been competing against the best in class since they were 5 or 6 years old, is a big ask.

Even though I also do not believe in segregation (and gender is no exception), I don't mean to sound harsh at the outset. If a girl can turn this into an F2/F3 ride and earn enough super license points to get considered for an F1 drive, that's great. But if she whines for a seat (like Susie Wolff), after not collecting the required super license points, never winning a race or accomplishing anything of merit, then she goes in the waste bin with all of the other drivers who tried and failed. I'm certain that there is at least one girl out there who has the talent and mental toughness to make it in F1. But IMO, she'll have to be more like Angelle Sampey and less like Danica Patrick (Susie Wollf or Carmen Jorda). I'm sorry that Simona di Silvestro got tied up with that fraud, Monisha Kaltenborn. She most certainly had the mental toughness to make it. She just needed to polish off the rough edges and further develop her racecraft.