Domenicali in paddock in Jeddah — Photo: © LAT Images

F1 Academy

Domenicali reveals crucial F1 Academy development

The F1 Academy will only race alongside F1 once this year

Sam Hall

Friday 31 March 2023 05:15

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has confirmed a crucial change to the F1 Academy for 2024.

F1 Academy is an all-female driver championship that will run for the first time this year as the sport makes a concerted effort to nurture talent.

But despite being affiliated with F1, the championship will race on the support bill just once this year - at the United States Grand Prix in Austin. The other six events will take place separately at venues across Europe.

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Confirming this distancing will only be the case for the first season, Domenicali told Sky Sports: "We haven't yet started the season on the track, but I can confirm to you that next year (2024), the F1 Academy will be on the racing weekend of Formula 1.

"That will, of course, not be everywhere, but that will be part of the plan to promote the F1 Academy.

"That is something that we are really keen on to make sure that this is the right booster for the season to grow."

A female F1 driver "as soon as we can"

There has been no female driver on the F1 grid since Lella Lombardi last lined up in 1976.

Last year, Domenicali received a backlash after stating that he did not believe this statistic would change for 'another five years'.

Referencing these comments, he added: "I remember, last year, when I was criticised for saying something that was not disrespectful but was saying as a fact, so F1 took the leadership to try to do something, investing, and believing that by creating attention to that project that we could really have, hopefully, as soon as we can, a girl or woman in F1.

"That is our goal, our hope, and that is why we are investing a lot.

"Susie Wolff will lead this plan and in the next couple of weeks, we're going to announce the details of what is more than the track, because we need to start to create awareness.

"Then we can have quality girls that are highlighted, but we need to work on quantity, to make sure that there is really this feeling that we will have girls that will start very soon to be attracted to our sport."