All-female championship W Series has added two new rounds which will support races on the 2020 F1 calendar.
W Series will appear on the F1 support bill at the United States and Mexican Grands Prix which are held on back-to-back weekends in October. The races will form the final two races of the championship’s eight-round season.“We at W Series are absolutely delighted that, in only our second season, our championship has been welcomed by Formula 1, and we’re utterly thrilled that the final two races of the 2020 W Series season will therefore take place as part of the Formula 1 platform,” said CEO Catherine Bond Muir.
“Our two all-new races will follow six races on the DTM platform, making a very varied, extremely exciting and truly international eight-race championship, in eight countries across the globe. I’m particularly pleased that W Series will now stage races outside Europe, and the USA and Mexico are of course both very important new territories for us.”
The second running of the championship will begin at the new Igora Drive circuit in Russia on May 30th. The series’ inaugural champion Jamie Chadwick, who will defend her title this year, has been signed by Williams as a development driver.
Formula 1 motorsport director Ross Brawn said W Series “has contributed significantly to increasing interest in the topic of diversity and inclusion in motorsport.
“We are convinced that our sport must offer equal opportunities for men and women to compete together – it is no coincidence that improving the diversity of the F1 grid by supporting and promoting driver talent from under-represented backgrounds is one of our strategic objectives.”
2020 W Series cacalendar
Race | Circuit | Country | Date |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Igora Drive | Russia | 30th May |
2 | Anderstorp | Sweden | 13th June |
3 | Monza | Italy | 27th June |
4 | Norisring | Germany | 11th July |
5 | Brands Hatch | UK | 23rd August |
6 | Asen | Netherlands | 5th September |
7 | Circuit of the Americas | USA | 24th October |
8 | Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez | Mexico | 31st October |
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DAllein (@)
16th January 2020, 9:00
Now that’s good!
Though I don’t doubt there will be those, who dislike the idea, but as for me – I said it even before the first season – they have to be a part of F1 weekend.
Shimks (@shimks)
17th January 2020, 13:31
Yes, @dallein, this is brilliant! Go Jamie!!
Jon Bee
16th January 2020, 9:42
Great news. But, please don’t let FOM steal the series from free to air.
antony obrien
16th January 2020, 10:34
Great news. genuinely interested to see if females can hack it at the top level and it would be dynamite for the sport. Sooner or later the penny will drop for some corporate that wants to push their brand that backing a female into F1 would be pure gold.
A female darts player one A game against a man and it was all over the news for days. ONE game and in DARTS !!
Matt Dickens (@tsmv)
16th January 2020, 13:57
“females”
Women.
GeeMac (@geemac)
16th January 2020, 10:54
This is a great news story for W Series, but the calendar now has huge gaps in it.
There are 2 weeks (roughly) between each of the first 4 races, which is absolutely fine. Then there is a 6 week gap between race 4 and race 5 for the DTM summer break. Then it’s another 2 weeks to race 6 and then a whopping 7 weeks before the race at COTA.
I anticipate that it will be tricky for the series to keep the momentum up from a PR/news perspective.
Sad F1 Fan
16th January 2020, 11:04
All of it is just politically correct cringe.
As long as a woman doesn’t drive in the top of F4 and F3 events it will remain that way.
We have already had women driving in F1, we have already had a female pointsscorer in F1.
GeeMac (@geemac)
16th January 2020, 11:19
And those things last happened in the 70’s and 90’s respectively. Anything that can be done to increase the diversity of the F1 grid (whether it is the driver’s gender, race, nationality, socio-economic background) should be encouraged.
Charles
16th January 2020, 11:36
But only if they get there on pure merit.
Any free pass just because they are female in the name of ‘diversity’ is just as bad no diversity!
Jon Bee
16th January 2020, 12:00
If one of them were the daughter of a billionaire, who bought them a team to play with, would that okay?
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
16th January 2020, 13:17
Because every F1 driver is there on merit ….
Don’t forget there’s still F2 where they’ll still need to shine as W series awards 15 points, not enough for F1.
Balue (@balue)
16th January 2020, 19:18
No, it would be infinitely worse
Sad F1 Fan
17th January 2020, 9:13
Why should it be encouraged? It shouldn’t be limited.
This is motorracing, the most first world rich people sport in existence, this new wave of cultural puritan marxism isn’t going to change that ever.
A billionaire buying a race team makes Lance Stroll about the most authentic racer we have had for decennia. Because racing is a rich mans game.
And it’s not like this push for diversity is based on anything other than making more money through marketing and commercials.
Sad F1 Fan
17th January 2020, 9:43
As a ps the most ironic thing is that racing takes place in dictatorships where people don’t even have human rights. That’s how much all these organisations are really concerned about ethics.
The only thing that counts is cash.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
16th January 2020, 13:14
That’s a bit delusional, W series will be a good feeder to find female talents for F2.
It’s a small help so just why not.
BasCB (@bascb)
16th January 2020, 11:45
Minor quip there @keithcollantine – it’s Assen (with two s-es)
Aapje (@aapje)
17th January 2020, 19:43
Easy to remember: one ass, two assen.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
16th January 2020, 13:13
Good news. I hope F1TV will broadcast those races, as there was no way for me to follow first season of the series. Would love to give it a chance.
Jon Bee
16th January 2020, 15:38
The races were/are on YouTube.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
16th January 2020, 15:41
Yeah, now, but they weren’t available for live-streaming.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
17th January 2020, 7:19
Fantastic! The boost the series needed! That ought to get a bit more coverage. Hopefully it’ll be broadcast here in Australia on Foxtel as the F2 and F3 races are. And hopefully we’ll see it picked up at some European races in years to come. The more exposure the better to get girls started in karts.