“It’s nice that girls are now sponsored by Formula One teams, but what do we actually help them with? There is no next step for them now.”
Max Verstappen has never been afraid to speak his mind, and the Dutchman’s candour is often refreshing. But casting doubts over the efficacy of the all-female F1 Academy series back in April didn’t feel like the best use of his considerable influence.
Visibility is arguably the most important building block for the progression of women in motorsport. The sport has had trailblazers like Susie Wolff, Claire Williams and Monisha Kaltenborn, but there remain no on-track female role models at the top level of Formula One.
For ex-Formula One engineer and Global Karting League founder Rob Smedley, achieving this visibility will require the investment of time and money from notable figures across motorsport.
“I think that the world of motorsport is finally waking up [to the fact] that this won’t be done by one or two evangelists,” he tells BlackBook Motorsport. “Even somebody with Lewis Hamilton’s authority and following within the sport can’t do it on his own.”
Smedley’s Global Karting League initiative is one such plan to move the needle of progress. It’s no secret that the funds required to race in junior categories are extortionate, and the programme aims to cut the costs of young drivers’ karting careers by 96 per cent.
The tagline of the Global Karting League is simple: ‘the fastest driver hasn’t yet raced in Formula One’. But there are plenty of hurdles to overcome to make this dream a reality.
It’s a rich man’s world
If visibility is a building block, then funding is the glue that holds the structure together. Ultimately, that’s where Verstappen’s comments missed the mark. In fact, ‘the next step’ he couldn’t see himself is a fully funded drive in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) for the winner of F1 Academy, which Marta García will benefit from in 2024.
FRECA, which was won by Mercedes-backed Andrea Kimi Antonelli last season, is the tier below Formula Three. In this context, it is important to remember that the all-female F1 Academy is on the level of Formula Four categories – which is not supposed to be a direct feeder series to Formula One.
This is where on-track experience comes into play. Young women have not received the same opportunities as their male counterparts, which is the reason for the all-female feeder series existing. Credit must also go to W Series for pioneering this format.
Indeed, three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick recently became the first woman to achieve a podium in Indy NXT – the step below IndyCar – since 2010. On the same weekend, Abbi Pulling, the current championship leader in F1 Academy, became the first woman ever to win a British Formula Four race.
“There’s a lot of debate as to whether females can ever actually make it in Formula One, and I think the community as a whole has a responsibility to prove that one way or another,” Smedley explains.
“If people like me who are evangelists of females in motorsport are wrong, there’s no problem with that – but let’s try and prove it first. Let’s find the best [drivers] that we possibly can, put them in Formula One, and see if they can compete.”
“Hell yeah, that was awesome!”
— INDY NXT by Firestone (@INDYNXT) May 15, 2024
Hear from @JamieChadwick and the No. 28 crew as they secured their first podium. 🥉⁰⁰#INDYNXT // @AndrettiIndy pic.twitter.com/Lidl7gbeVm
Investing in grassroots
It’s important to reiterate that F1 Academy races with Formula Four cars. This framing is crucial as it reduces unrealistic expectations placed on the current grid.
Moving forward, though, more needs to be done beyond allocating one slot in FRECA for the F1 Academy champion. Indeed, the Iron Dames team, who will support García and current F1 Academy driver Doriane Pin in FRECA this season, should not be the exception to the rule.
The process is in motion, but it’s not out of first gear yet. The next step is to ensure support starts at the grassroots level. Lowering the barriers to entry will increase the number of young women competing in karting championships, which in turn will grow the pool of talent at the elite level.
This is starting to be seen with initiatives like the Global Karting League, as well as F1 Academy’s Discover Your Drive and More than Equal’s driver development programme, which recently announced its first intake of female drivers.
For Smedley, building on the average representation of females at the grassroots level of motorsport – which currently stands at around ten per cent – is a key challenge to address.
“If there’s enough initiatives that guide females or ease the access into motorsport, we can increase that ten per cent to much bigger representations,” he explains. “Not at the detriment of males, by the way, but you’ve got to disproportionately grow the female community.”
Making sufficient progress in this area will vastly increase the possibility of finding a female Formula One driver, although Smedley admits that “starting from today unfortunately that is a ten-year programme”.
‘Brands need to fund relatable female heroes’
With the context of issues around funding, and the initiatives being put in place to combat the current level of female representation, the next step is to drive new investment from different revenue sources.
F1 Academy has done this through each of the Formula One teams sponsoring an entry each, while big brands like Charlotte Tilbury, Tommy Hilfiger and American Express have also come on board to support the series.
This trend is beginning to trickle into wider motorsport, including in IndyCar, where Elf Cosmetics will become the first beauty brand to serve as primary sponsor in the Indianapolis 500 when Katherine Legge makes her fourth start in the iconic race at the end of this month.
“We would never have dreamt [of these companies] being a sponsor in motorsport ten to 15 years ago,” says Smedley. “Now we’re seeing really strong brands coming into it because they know that they can speak to women through their branding and marketing.
“Then it’s important for these brands to start to fund some relatable female heroes – I think if you can do that the whole thing is a virtuous circle. Once you start to bring the bigger brands in who have the budgets to do this, they will want to get behind the female [drivers] that they know can start to move the needle in terms of the influence across their campaigns.”
Commitment from the top
There are many avenues that must be addressed to enact real change, but these potential areas of progress will mean nothing without the commitment of influential organisations and those in leadership positions within motorsport.
The initiatives being established must also have long-term business plans that enable their existence into the future. For example, W Series was a trailblazing organisation, but its position at the front of the pack meant it was difficult to establish a stable business model.
“I think a lot of these things fall by the wayside – they’re very purpose driven, they’re very clear in their intent – because they’re not quite clear in their business model,” Smedley considers. “You’ve got to have authentic, genuine programmes, but they have to be financially sustainable, whether partnership money comes into it or there’s money from the FIA.
“That should be part of your profit base so that you can reinvest into your programme, but it shouldn’t be a ‘hit and hope’ business plan.”
F1 Academy is now leading the way in this regard, and it will be important that the revenue it generates is eventually reinvested in the grassroots of the sport.
‘We have to find a way that isn’t tokenism’
The visibility of female leaders in motorsport is crucial. Formula One has a duty to understand the influence that it has, especially now the series’ fanbase is estimated to be around 40 per cent female.
“There’s a few women who are more prevalent in engineering positions, so you’ve got Hannah Schmitz at Red Bull, you’ve got Bernie Collins who’s now involved on the TV side,” says Smedley. “[Collins] was very prevalent in the work that she was doing at Aston Martin, and rightly so because she was the best option for Aston Martin, before that Force India, and before that McLaren.”
This visibility ensures that, when young girls turn on the television, they see someone that they relate to. But it’s just as important that these roles are given to the best candidate at the end of a process where all applicants have had equal opportunities. Only at that point will the industry be able to claim that there has been meaningful change.
“It has to be meritocratic,” Smedley says. “Any underrepresented community that we’re talking about, we have to find a way that isn’t tokenism and it’s totally meritocratic why those people are in those positions.
“There’s been small changes over the last ten to 15 years that are absolutely in the right direction, but we’ve still got a way to go.”
This feature forms part of SportsPro’s Women’s Sport Week. Click here to access more exclusive content and sign up to the SportsPro Daily newsletter here to receive daily insights direct to your inbox.