Women's F1 championship

[eps]

StevieBee said:

Wasn't there a RX7 Women's Only championship a while back that died a death due to lack of interest.

Motorsport is like snooker in that there is nothing preventing women competing on equal terms with men other than their interest in doing so.

Yep it was called, Formula Woman.

The main issue here, as I'm sure most of us are aware is the lack of beginners coming in at grass roots level. There just isn't the interest from young women to compete in Club Motorsport. Most championships will have no female competitors or at an absolute maximum two. So either 100% men or 95%. Seeing as only the top 0.1% or even less make it in to F1 the problem is at the other end of motorsport not at the top. It's purely about numbers.

[Rick_1138]

I shouldn't have laughed at that yas marina video but when he braked after the first straight and her head just welded itself to the front panel, tears of laughter.

However on a serious note, you could tell before she left the pit she was shifting about in the seat, she shouldn't have been able to move forward at allthe straps should have been that tight.

Bit of a worry.

[BigBob]

Women and all the 'Politically Correct' wimps are always telling us at every opportunity that women are superior to men - let them prove it!!!!

All the publicity, sponsorship and the feeding frenzy the media would create, a woman in F1 would appear to be a Finance Depts dream.

Assuming the Principals aren't stupid, don't you think they'd jump at the chance of 'extra' funds. There must be a reason they don't.

I'm against discrimination of any sort; both positive and negative, as it does no more than 'weaken the strain'

Let anyone regardless of gender, prove their worth and if they're good enough they'll make it.

BB

[Vocal Minority]

BigBob said:

Women and all the 'Politically Correct' wimps are always telling us at every opportunity that women are superior to men - let them prove it!!!!


BB

My word pistonehads doesn't half talk some bks sometimes!

However, beneath all of the mindless PC gone mad nonsense, you do have a point. There is no reason that women cannot compete on an equal footing with men in motorsport. A separate series would be a regressive step.

What needs to be done is to get more girls interested at a grass roots level - and show karting and, hell, even going to a race meeting with Mum and Dad isn't just 'for boys'.

[IainT]

Vocal Minority said:

BigBob said:

Women and all the 'Politically Correct' wimps are always telling us at every opportunity that women are superior to men - let them prove it!!!!


BB

My word pistonehads doesn't half talk some bks sometimes!

BB isn't speaking for PH or all PHers. You could always be less passive-aggressive and tell BB directly he's talking tosh.

BB clearly is talking tosh - all women and all people who might be described as 'PC' don't make claims of superiority. They, reasonably, demand equality. One needs to be careful not to equate equality (of treatment) with claiming we're all the same when that's obviously not the case - which is why some sports separate men from women for competition.

There are some sports that the physical characteristics lead to obvious need for separation - football, boxing, athletics. Some make less sense from the physical pov - Darts for example.

Separating women from men to give women a platform can make sense if it's because, for example, the pool of female competitors is small and there's a non-sporting desire to promote female participation. This may be the case in darts - would the best woman make it into the top 50 in the men's game? I'm not sure they would.

So, F1... the rules could be changed to equalise the demands of the physical challenge but I'm not sure that there are currently any women capable of beating the top men even if that were done. I'd quite like to see women racing in F1 though but it would require 3rd cars and mandating female drivers. It'd have to cost FOM as the teams wouldn't want the extra cost and it would be unfair to upcoming male drivers having women 'promoted' over them purely because of gender.

Blasted complicated issue.

Maybe if the physical requirements were equalised then we'd eventually have a female driver compete on skill alone?

[RobGT81]

IainT said:

Maybe if the physical requirements were equalised then we'd eventually have a female driver compete on skill alone?

What physical requirements? There's no reason a woman couldn't race a current F1 car.

[Durzel]

kambites said:

Daft idea.

F1 isn't a test of physical strength, men have no fundamental advantage over women. If anything women should have an advantage since they're generally shorter and lighter. If they want women in F1, they need to start by getting more girls into karting.

I think more than anything F1 is a test of how far someone will push themselves without fear of the consequences. I read a small article once that made mention of Webber's overtake of Alonso at Spa, and other similarly balls-to-the-wall incidents, which put it down to the fact that the men operating at this level in F1 will not think about the what ifs and the very real prospect of death or serious injury if the slightest thing goes wrong. You have to have that level of absolute focus when minute differences mean the difference between winning and coming second, etc.

That's not the say that women can't be like this, but one would expect them to be less willing to ride that line between winning a race and hitting a wall at terminal velocity. You could make an argument that guys with children in F1 probably have these thoughts too when they're doing 200 odd MPH, but again it's not as absolute as that (Vettel disproves it for one).

[andy-xr]

So, we need more women in F1 lads. Make sure it's equal n'all, yeah?

OK boss, what we'll do is put them in their own little corner over here and giggle every so often at the lap times, right?

....

[mattikake]

Great idea imo. I've been saying there should be a high profile proper female-only racing series for years (at least going back to 2009 on here). The door has been open to women in F1 for decades and very few have ever made it through. It doesn't matter if it's because women aren't as tough, aggressive or simply not as interested. The fact is, it just isn't happening.

The way I see it, it would give female racers something to aspire to. Running on an F1 weekend, it would create female role-models and superstars, it would surely attract more female fans, more female race interest... and more wanting to partake.

Doesn't matter what series you race in, or who is in it, if you prove you're the best usually you will end up racing the best. So if there turns out to be a female Schumacher in Female F1, then you'd expect them to be given a drive in Male F1 with proven credentials, instead of a useful marketing angle.

I'd watch it.

[btcc123]

I cannot see how a woman can drive a F1 car as there is no rear view mirror to apply their lipstick,no room for a handbag and lack of control with high heels.

Only joking.

I think someone like Manor have missed a trick by not having a woman driver as it would give them massive publicity and have a good chance of having some household names as sponsors on their present sponsor less car.

Manor Tampax Ferrari Racing has a nice ring to it dont you think.

[Vocal Minority]

IainT said:

BB isn't speaking for PH or all PHers. You could always be less passive-aggressive and tell BB directly he's talking tosh.

I thought in the context of the statement I was directly saying it (albeit pulling in a bit of a general observation about a lot of PH's new found obsession with the ( half) imagined enemy of political correctness).

Anyway, as you were

[Rick101]

I would love to see more women in motorsport. No reason they can't be engineers, drivers, team managers, they should have a fair shot any any job, if they want it.

I cringe when I see a pit lane full of men and there are only 2 women in sight, Suzi Perry and pit board decoration. The latter is doing a massive disservice to their sex.

[gl20]

With thread-bare grid formations, is an option to go with the third car idea, but for women only, and have separate points for them ie similar to when they had in the late 80s with turbo and NA constructor points/championships but all driving together

[998420]

Rick101 said:

I would love to see more women in motorsport. No reason they can't be engineers, drivers, team managers, they should have a fair shot any any job, if they want it.

I cringe when I see a pit lane full of men and there are only 2 women in sight, Suzi Perry and pit board decoration. The latter is doing a massive disservice to their sex.

I guess you were too busy cringing to see the 2 female F1 team principles then?

[Rick101]

Yes I was.

[Piglet]

998420 said:

Rick101 said:

I would love to see more women in motorsport. No reason they can't be engineers, drivers, team managers, they should have a fair shot any any job, if they want it.

I cringe when I see a pit lane full of men and there are only 2 women in sight, Suzi Perry and pit board decoration. The latter is doing a massive disservice to their sex.

I guess you were too busy cringing to see the 2 female F1 team principles then?

And a decent number of female pit marshals... And a growing number of female officials at decent levels of the sport.

As others have said, it's about getting enough girls into the sport early on, that will build momentum, we'll see more female driver role models which will help to encourage more new entrants and more talent.

The FIA and the MSA gave Women in MotorSport committees so it's on the radar....

[Crafty_]

Always entertaining when people take what Bernie says at face value

imho no reason why women could not compete at the highest level.

Danica Patrick runs 3+ hour races in stock cars - they might not pull the g-forces that an F1 car does but they are still pretty physical to drive.
Granted, initially she wasn't too great and the media coverage was over the top, but last year she turned in some very respectable performances - it takes time to learn how to race those cars.

If you look in the drag racing world women have been competing at the top for years.

Edited by Crafty_ on Sunday 5th April 17:37

[hdrflow]

Lady LeMans said:

If this job was easy, everyone would do it, but it isn’t. Not many guys want it and even fewer girls do, but I hope that when I lead my team at any race, I show both that anyone, if they put their mind to it, can achieve so much in motor sport. It’s hard but worth every bit of the sweat and tears.

http://www.motorsport.com/lemans/news/lady-le-mans...

I wouldn't expect a separate F1 championship for women unless is something like Formula E. Personally I see no reason for not having women in F1 competing. Would they really be worse than all of the journeymans we had? Not really.

I echo the above that is a matter of having more girls involved at grassroots level and it'll happen.

[poppopbangbang]

To provide a slightly informed view point; there is no technical or physical reason why female drivers wouldn't work and couldn't be as quick as male drivers. The power steering systems employed (which are absolutely required, male or female due to the aero loads creating very high steering weights) remove the requirement for huge upper body strength which was the only real issue previously.

If you get to the point of really tailoring your tub to your driver then the female bodyshape also offers some advantages over the male bodyshape with regards to width across shoulders and overall height. Shorter drives allow you to get the weight of your pedal box assembly back and gives more box room in the nose for example.

The argument about G forces is pretty mute, if you go through the training routine that is usual for this sort of motorsport you'll be strong enough.

What really needs to happen is all this bullst about potential chick only series etc. stops and someone actually makes an effort to point out that out of all the sports motorsport is one of the few that allows males and females to compete on a level playing field where no sex has a particular advantage over the other. There are some seriously quick female drivers out there now and it isn't going to be long before there is one in F1!

[Evangelion]

kambites said:

... Women also, on average, have lighter heads.

That's because they're not as dense as we are!