It was confirmed yesterday that the W Series, a women’s racing competition, will feature as a support race alongside F1 races in 2021. The competition is an international single-seater motor racing championship, conducted for female drivers.
Although the locations remain unconfirmed as yet, the idea will be to hold 8 races. The previous edition of the championship in 2019 saw 20 drivers contest it over 6 races.
One personality who is all for it is the Mercedes point man, Lewis Hamilton. Speaking in the pre-race press conference, he doubled down on the need for diversity in motorsports.
Lewis Hamilton declared the W Series as “very, very important”
The British driver was quoted as saying, “If I’m really honest I don’t know enough about it, I’ve naturally grown up and come through other ranks.
“I think it’s great what they have already done. And I think it’s definitely very, very important that they are here on the global scale, on the scene.”
Hamilton also feels that growing up during his karting ranks, he only saw a handful of young girls coming through. And he hopes with the W Series, the idea of racing being a ‘male-dominated’ sport will change.
“I think when we talk about diversity, people often think that we are talking about having more people of color. It’s not just that, it is having more women involved.
“At the moment is a male dominated sport and that does need to change. The sport does need to do more, and that is a good step in the right direction,” concluded Hamilton.
W Series, an opportunity to promote more female drivers
After the initial success of the 2019 championship won by Jamie Chadwick, the 2021 season might receive even more attention. Formula 2, running as support races alongside F1, has also gotten a lot of traction; and the same could happen with W Series.
W Series CEO Catherine Bond had stated, “There is no doubt that, now that W Series will be run alongside and in collaboration with Formula 1, our global reach, impact and influence will be increased significantly.”
An interesting aspect of this series is that female drivers will also become eligible for an FIA Super License. Sparking the fire for a new chapter for more women to take up a career in motorsports.
