The women taking motorsports up a gear

Love it or hate it, sport has a huge influence over people and society in general. Whether it’s top-league football or amateur golf, the prizes and fanbase are huge. And for those who do make it up to the professional leagues, the wages can be equally a big! For example, Alexis Sanchez’s career path to Manchester United came with a weekly wage of £391,000, with an additional £75,000 upon starting a game.

It’s not just football with the big bucks either; winning the DP World Tour Championship in gold will bring home a cool $3 million.

But there’s a problem in sport beyond the sheer scale of money involved. The sporting world is still inherently dominated by men. Female teams do play, of course, but the publicity is far less in comparison to male teams. For example, 2.4 million people watched the FIFA Women’s World Cup, but 2018’s World Cup for male teams drew in 26.5 million viewers.

There is slow progress of note. Darts has seen female players welcomed into the previously male-only World Championships, and the male-dominated world of motorsports is starting to shift gear when it comes to female sportspeople. Audi A6 dealership Looker Audi explores the long-needed change within motorsports.

Female test drivers

There have been a number of female test drivers in recent history. Williams signed Susie Wolff as a test driver for their vehicles in 2012, for instance, showing a willingness to get females involved in the predominantly male environment. She became the first female driver in 22 years to participate in a race weekend, when she took part in the first practice session at Silverstone. Williams later appointed Colombia’s Tatiana Calderón as a development driver for 2017, who went on to be promoted to test driver.

Wolff went on to launch a programme designed to help promote female drivers. Williams later appointed Colombia’s Tatiana Calderón as a development driver for 2017, who went on to be promoted to test driver.

The women-only W Series

The W series is, as the name suggests, a women-only championship. It’s been backed by some of Formula 1’s biggest names, including former champion David Coulthard and Red Bull’s design chief Adrian Newey. Newey, who has designed many of the vehicles to have won the F1 championship, doesn’t believe that women are, or should be, inferior in the sport. He said: “I believe the reason why so few women have so far raced successfully at the highest levels against men is a lack of opportunity rather than a lack of capability.”

The W Series aims to eventually provide an equal footing for women and men to perform at F1-level. The six-race championship pits up to 20 of the world’s top female racing drivers against each other in identical cars. President of the Women in Motorsport Commission for governing body the FIA, Michèle Mouton, also backs the series, believing that it will allow a platform to be created to help propel women into the male-dominated competitions.

Formula 3’s shake-up

Formula 3 is undoubtedly still a majority-male competition. However, in August 2018, Jamie Chadwick became the first woman to win a British F3 race. It sees her added to a prestigious list of winners, which also includes Mika Häkkinen and Ayrton Senna. However, while Chadwick admits that she has sometimes struggled with the G-force and weight of steering, she says that this can’t be used as an excuse for females not to perform well in the sport.

She said that: “I just want to prove it’s possible. I know when I drive my best, there is nothing stopping me from being one of the best and there is no reason why there wouldn’t be the same case for girls coming through in karting to get the same opportunity in F3.”

Women in pit teams

It’s not uncommon to see women in pit teams now too. In NASCAR, two female tyre changers made history in February by becoming the first female pit crew members in the Daytona 500 as part of the Drive for Diversity project. This follows the McLaren team in F1 organising an all-female pit stop in July 2017’s Austrian Grand Prix.

An all-female team in 24 Hours of Daytona

Back in 2018, an all-female team entered 24 Hours of Daytona, courtesy of Audi. They debuted their R8 LMS GT4 with Ashley Freiberg and Gosia Rdest teaming up behind the wheel. The decision to have female drivers wasn’t a new concept for the team either, as Michèle Mouton raced in the 1980s, while Rahel Frey was part of Audi Sport Team in 2017 as they finished third at the Nürburgring.

There’s still so much work to be done, but it seems that the world of sports is finally becoming more and more open to the idea of equality in its players.