EXCLUSIVE: Insider claims F1 Academy and W Series couldn't co-exist

Doriane Pin from Prema Racing in the F1 Academy — Photo: © IMAGO

GPFans Exclusive

EXCLUSIVE: Insider claims F1 Academy and W Series couldn't co-exist

The two all-female racing championships didn't race in parallel, and never could've believes ex-W Series Press Officer

Jim Kimberley

Thursday 2 May 2024 19:57

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Formula 1's return to Miami this weekend also sees the return of F1 Academy for its second race of its 2024 season.

The all-female championship is following in the footsteps of W Series, its spiritual predecessor, which also ran in Miami during its ultimately doomed 2022 season.

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W Series had hoped to continue into 2023, but the two never ran in parallel, with F1 Academy starting up as W Series struggled.

For one insider, F1 Academy and W Series could not coexist, but W Series paved the way for F1 Academy's existence.

Supporting segregated racing

F1 paddock veteran Ann Bradshaw worked as a Press Officer for W Series and spoke exclusively to GPFans about female drivers progressing in motorsport thanks to both W Series and F1 Academy.

"I don't think the two could have coexisted," Bradshaw states, continuing to say, "I think without W Series, we wouldn't have F1 Academy.

"We shone a light on the fact that ... it would be nice to see more women racing at the top echelon of motorsport.

"Having said that, I appreciate the people who said, 'Oh no, the way to do that isn't to segregate,' and there was a lot of it...

"Males and females saying that the whole structure of having an all-female championship is wrong because they have to go and take the men on."

Frustrating female financing

While F1 Academy has followed W Series in segregated running, its drivers need to bring a budget to race a season in the championship, rather than W Series' fully-funded approach, which contributed to its financial downfall.

Bradshaw laments how finances affected the opportunities for female hopefuls, saying, "Nobody seems to want to sponsor these young girls where there are.

"If you've got a young boy going motor racing and you've got a young girl going motor racing, and a big sponsor comes along, the sponsor's got to look at which one of them is more likely to succeed.

"Well, it's the boy because that's what's happened over the years. There aren't any females in F2 and F1, so you say, 'Well, I'm not going to risk the girl because, you know, the boy is more likely to'.

"But W series, it was sad that we couldn't find a big sponsor who wanted to put themselves behind that.

"We had Puma, who were amazing, and Heineken, who were amazing. They supported us; they were very supportive and really great. But I don't know, there just doesn't seem to be the sponsorship out there for females."

A future of hope

Even with the demise of W Series, Bradshaw is happy that the championship helped the plight of the drivers that did race during the championship's three-year stint.

"I'm just so happy that a lot of the female drivers, who I worked with at W series are still out there racing, still out there enjoying themselves, so that they're showing that drivers can do well.

"If one of them makes it to Formula One, fantastic. If they don't, at least they can go out and represent females the way that some of our girls have done.

"Jamie Chadwick went to Indy Lights. A lot of our drivers... Abbi Pulling, Chloe Chambers, Marta Garcia, Beitske Visser, all those girls, they were out there with F1 Academy.

"Let's hope that with a bit of light shining on these females, one of them can get themselves in a position where an F3 or F2 team says, 'Right, we're going to give you a drive; We're going to put you in there,'

"And there'll be a sponsor who says, 'Yeah, we'll support that person.'

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