omen in the Cockpit for First Time

sport,” says Stefano Domenicali, president and CEO. “This is designed to provide another route for the drivers to succeed.”

F1 organizers haven’t specified when they’ll announce the 2023 race schedule and list of drivers. Likely candidates are young and hail mainly from Europe. There’s Dutch phenom Maya Weug, 18, who in 2021 became the first female member of the prestigious Ferrari Driver Academy, and Doriane Pin, 18, a French karting champion who won the Ferrari Challenge in 2022 and has recorded strong efforts in the FIA World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series. (Like male drivers, women rising through the ranks ride in such niche series to advance their skills and reputation.)

Jessica Hawkins, 27, is another contender. The British W Series podium finisher is perhaps most known as a stunt driver for the 2021 James Bond film No Time to Die. Abbi Pulling, 19, a Brit who last year became the first woman to drive an F1 car in Saudi Arabia, and Marta García López, 22, a Spanish karting ace and W Series veteran, would also be at home in F1 Academy development.

You might have noticed none of these drivers is American. The sole US driver in the 2022 W Series, Chloe Chambers, would be a long shot for the F1 Academy. The dearth of American prospects reflects European countries’ efforts to foster competitive driving in young people more actively than the US, Landino says: “There has to be more investment into grassroots motor sport.”

F1 exploded in the US last year, with three races planned for 2023 and new episodes of the Netflix F1 documentary Drive to Survive on the way. Although the sport still falls far short of the ratings that the National Football Association gets, F1 races averaged about 1.5 million viewers per race in 2022, roughly the same as a regular-season National Basketball Association game.

The W Series has been struggling. Managers abruptly canceled races in September, citing financial problems. On Dec. 14 a spokesperson said CEO Catherine Bond Muir would not be available for comment until the spring of 2023. Insiders say the F1 Academy, by contrast, has the backing and goodwill required to thrive, so aspiring drivers may not have to turn to the family delivery van to get seat time.

“The important thing is, we know how well people like Bruno and Stefano run things, and we know that F2 and F3 work,” says David Tremayne, the prolific freelance motor sports journalist and former F1 correspondent for the Independent in London. “So this one will definitely work.” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/ articles/2023-01-09/formula-1-hopes-to-addwomen-drivers-with-new-academy

Image credit: motorsportweek.com