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Jamie Chadwick dominates the W Series again, but her struggle to advance her career is a prime example of the hurdles women face in the race.


Sometimes, in the tough world of mass-base driving, careers will be extinguished long before they should. That’s especially true for women, who often work with lower budgets and fewer opportunities than men in their relative positions.

As 2019 W Series runner-up Alice Powell said, when asked why she took an extended break: “I’m not out of talent.”

The search for an accessible female driver Formula one looks stronger than ever, but today’s most proven woman in single-seat driving, upcoming three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick, can’t seem to get her way out of the public race. Formula 3 in the region and beyond .

The W series is almost unique among the junior series by not forcing the champion to advance. If you win Formula 3 or Formula 2, you will be banned again next season. It’s a system with its own problems, often condemning talented drivers to a year of tea making in the back of the F1 team’s garage before a spot can be opened up for them to progress.

However, as a result of the W Series’ way of doing things, Chadwick found himself competing for – or indeed, almost completely untested – for a third title. However, her future looks uncertain and she begins her summer break (the championship ends on 30 September in Singapore) with a question mark on what she will do next. . Or how she will take that step to make progress from what is intended to be a stepping stone championship.

“My goal is to always improve,” Chadwick said before the break. “I really want to take a bigger step. I know I still need to perform this year but I still have an eye on the future.

“Any feeder chain is a target, so Formula 3, Formula 2, but I’m also really looking at the American opportunities and the potential of Indy Lights. So I’m just exploring. We’ve had a great stay after Budapest so it’s going to take some time to really understand what we’re capable of and what the best chances are.”

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It seems very clear that Chadwick cannot return for a fourth season in the W Series, for her sake and the championship. It’s unclear where she’ll go from here, despite just turning 24 and with the professional part of her career beckoning but already out of reach.

Two women who have driven in Formula 3 and Formula 2, are Sophia Flörsch and Tatiana Calderón respectively. Flörsch joined the series during lockdown and in a less competitive Campos car, scoring no points in the 2020 season.

Calderón has spent years on the grand prize-supporting high school series and is a member of Sauber’s base program but still struggles with the HWA Racelab car she found during the 2019 season, which Anthoine The exceptionally talented Hubert won the race before his tragic death on the track that season. But subsequent backup drivers, all with good experience, found the same lack of performance as Calderón did.

Former F1 driver David Coulthard is one of the founders of the W Series and now also More Than Equal, a program to try, namely to get a woman into F1. He said that, understandably, Chadwick had to consider whether she could compete in F3 or F2.

Coulthard told the media ahead of the British Grand Prix last month: “Racing, once you’ve created a platform, has to be a financial regime.” “That said, we know that in Formula 2 only one, two or three of the teams actually win.

“So get to F2 and get to F2 on the right car. And that depends on the individual teams. And when you’re trying to put a driver in a two-car team, there are a number of things. considerations that you look at.”

That may explain why Chadwick suddenly finds himself without an F3 driver this year. The plan was not implemented in the W Series; she has won consecutive titles (preventing pandemic-level disruption) and has no intention of returning. Her announcement, that she would be joining Jenner Racing for a third run in the championship, was beaten down more than most riders’ autograph videos and she made an announcement. another, a few days later, assures fans that she’s trying to get to F3 but things simply don’t always work out.

Bruno Michel, CEO of F3 and F2, said he did not know why her deal failed.

“I really don’t understand why she can’t get a seat in Formula 3, to be honest. There are teams that are ready to take her,” Michel insisted to journalists earlier this season. . “I know there was a discussion with a team, I don’t know what ended up happening.

“I think it’s a pity because I think she’ll be ready for Formula 3.”

However, Michel also warned that female drivers coming to F3 and F2 must be eligible to be at the front of the series’ partially inverted grid. The 12th qualifying round in F3 gives you the pole for the sprint, a potentially huge opportunity to score that Flörsch – whose best qualifying result of the season was 17th – missed.

“We absolutely need to prepare young female drivers to get to the level of Formula 3 successfully, and success means we need to make sure that when they get there, At least they can make the top 12.” . “If it’s at the back of the grid, it’s counterproductive because we’re going to have a lot of people saying, ‘look,’ which is exactly what we don’t want.

“We really believe, very strongly that there is absolutely no reason why a female driver can’t achieve the same results as a male driver, it’s a matter of preparation.”

And preparation is a big barrier. Chadwick has now done 116 single-seat car races, more than any other driver in the W Series. In comparison, before getting into the F2 car, Lando Norris achieved 162. Chadwick closed the gap significantly, but in the end she was still inexperienced compared to her male counterparts.

In male-dominated sports fields where there is no gender segregation, such as motorsport and e-sports, the overwhelming reality is that little girls start later and do not have early experience. It is easy to see the 4-year age gap between Norris, who started racing at the age of 7, and Chadwick, who started at 11 years old.

W Series CEO Catherine Bond-Muir says that when asked why Chadwick hasn’t reached the pinnacle of her career like her male counterparts, the answer is easy: She’s still at the stage before.

“If you look at our best driver at the moment, it’s definitely Jamie, and compare with her colleagues Lando [Norris] and George [Russell]”They’re the same age, they meet socially, they’re all friends,” explains Bond-Muir. “If you compare the hours the boys have raced from kart racing onwards and into the single-seater pyramid, they’ve had dozens, if not hundreds, of hours in the car that Jamie has had. .

“So just in terms of experience, Jamie is not competing on a level playing field.”

And Chadwick doesn’t just drive for himself. If she does do well in F3 or Indy Lights, then she represents a massive (slightly delayed) success for the W Series show. If she doesn’t, then it’s bound to raise awkward questions about whether the series will actually advance women’s careers, or put them in a sort of lower-class hold, which must certainly be fabricate.

Coulthard hinted that the FIA, the dominant body of motorsport, relied on the series to propel Chadwick onward.

“Some famous people in the regulator have suggested that we should force them to spend money on the next step. We are not forcing anyone to do anything that the boys are not forced to do or Men are not. forced to do.”

And without a firm seat, Chadwick remained in that limbo. While a third title will certainly put her in a better bargaining position, the amount of bonuses will lubricate a deal if nothing else she has the added pressure of when it comes to making it. Teams can smell despair and they make you pay for it, financially, unless Trevor Carlin or Jean-Paul Driot have sadly passed away – both looking junior team bosses Talent over money – appears, she may find herself in a weaker position than her budget would suggest.

The costs are staggering, in any case. FIA Formula 3 is somewhere in the region of 3 million euros for a season and Formula 2, in some cases, costs up to 6 million euros or even more, depending on spare parts. The W Series costs nothing to compete and actively pays its riders, giving most of its riders much more freedom to focus on their racing careers rather than being closed drivers. substitute or team of plumbers to make ends meet.

If Chadwick doesn’t find a seat, it will be a problem for her career. And, unfortunately, women in general in motorsport. However, that should not be placed on her shoulders, nor should the reputation she has carried heavily on her gender. This must be considered at the system level. The truth is that there are still enormous barriers to women’s advancement in motorsport and the struggles of a media-friendly, remarkable woman to climb the ladder should be considered. is a brutal example of that, not her failure.



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