Jamie Chadwick - First competitive female driver in F1?
Discussion
Leithen said:
Odd that there doesn’t seem to have been much if any commentary on the accommodation/investment choices made by male drivers who have won championships.
They are probably all living in rented flats, sleeping on the floor.
Or perhaps not and the subject is a complete load of b
ks.
Many of them did just that.They are probably all living in rented flats, sleeping on the floor.
Or perhaps not and the subject is a complete load of b
ks. I've worked with two who slept on the floor and earned no money building their careers.
Both now well known 24hr winners and works drivers in WEC. One got as far as F1.
It's a common story, especially in sportscar racing where you have a wealthy driver funding the program, and very quick young guys trying to build a career earning very little money and pumping what they do earn into progressing their career.
$1 million was plenty of cash to buy drives and progress, but the talent isn't good enough to warrant spending that to get your arse kicked, so it was the smart move for her to use it elsewhere.
She is in the right place now, it's easy to make a living in USA racing compared to ROW.
I'm sure there'll be some salty-ness regarding this opportunity and citation of it as a publicity stunt because she's a woman.
However, the way I see it is that she's an Andretti junior therefore there's no reason why Andretti shouldn't give her a test at some point.
There's also some pretty firm talk that if anyone is going to have a seat created for '25 then it'll be her team-mate Louis Foster (a fellow Brit) who is currently leading the series with 5 wins in the last 7 races.
However, the way I see it is that she's an Andretti junior therefore there's no reason why Andretti shouldn't give her a test at some point.
There's also some pretty firm talk that if anyone is going to have a seat created for '25 then it'll be her team-mate Louis Foster (a fellow Brit) who is currently leading the series with 5 wins in the last 7 races.
GlobalRacer said:
skwdenyer said:
People keep mentioning this, as if it is a sign of weakness that she wouldn’t take all that money and throw it back into her career, as opposed to any other job wherein actually earning money is sort of the point!
Think of it this way. If you were starting a new business and were to go to a meeting of potential investors and then tell them that you want them to back you but you've spent all the money you had on house what do you think the investors would think? I know all the ones I've dealt with would say "Why should I put money behind you when you're not confident enough to put your own money in?"I guess it boils down to whether you think a driver is an employee looking for a job or a business that is promoting themselves to get contracts from other businesses.
My personal opinion is the latter but no idea if that is how most drivers see themselves or not
Chadwick isn't an investor pitch for a startup in a disruptive field. It is "I can make this much money on my own; imagine what I can do with your backing; in return, you get a share of the returns." That's a large part of the investment activity in this country right there - a fact regularly bemoaned by those who are indeed trying to crack new markets by living in a bedsit and eating beans, who often say "it isn't fair; they only invest in people who don't need the money..."
skwdenyer said:
Missed this at the time, so rather late. In my experience, investors tend to back success, not selflessness. If you've demonstrated the ability to buy yourself a house from profits over just a year or two of activity, that's a massive plus point from the investors' PoV. It proves there's value in the proposition; and it shows you're taking your own position seriously enough not to just run away in a year or so because you're broke / can't pay the mortgage / etc. YMMV of course.
Chadwick isn't an investor pitch for a startup in a disruptive field. It is "I can make this much money on my own; imagine what I can do with your backing; in return, you get a share of the returns." That's a large part of the investment activity in this country right there - a fact regularly bemoaned by those who are indeed trying to crack new markets by living in a bedsit and eating beans, who often say "it isn't fair; they only invest in people who don't need the money..."
I'm not so sure an investor would be willing to invest their money when any return results in them not in receiving any return personally, but for the already incredibly wealthy person they investing in becoming even wealthier whilst they see a loss...Chadwick isn't an investor pitch for a startup in a disruptive field. It is "I can make this much money on my own; imagine what I can do with your backing; in return, you get a share of the returns." That's a large part of the investment activity in this country right there - a fact regularly bemoaned by those who are indeed trying to crack new markets by living in a bedsit and eating beans, who often say "it isn't fair; they only invest in people who don't need the money..."
A pure hypothetical here. How would an investors spending millions investing in Jamie Chadwick to finish midfield in a championship contending Andretti IndyNXT car get a return? When it is Jamie that is laughing all the way to the way the bank having taking your money to be average at best whilst mummy & daddy still subsidise her lavish lifestyle? You lose every penny/peso/cent invested and she benefits not you?
Most companies would see more return by sponsoring their local football team than they would sponsoring a racing driver. The likelihood a racing driver making it is miniscule in comparison.
If Chadwick is such a good investment, why aren't companies lining up to pay for her lavish privileged life? Because it isn't! Paying for a rich brat's hobbies doesn't make companies any money. Andretti will be losing a fortune wasting their IndyNXT win capable car on a driver who finishes 10th on average. But woke virtue signalling takes priority over sensibility. Dumping Chadwick & Hiring Collett would benefit Andretti immediately from a racing perspective, but they won't.
Peacockantony said:
skwdenyer said:
Missed this at the time, so rather late. In my experience, investors tend to back success, not selflessness. If you've demonstrated the ability to buy yourself a house from profits over just a year or two of activity, that's a massive plus point from the investors' PoV. It proves there's value in the proposition; and it shows you're taking your own position seriously enough not to just run away in a year or so because you're broke / can't pay the mortgage / etc. YMMV of course.
Chadwick isn't an investor pitch for a startup in a disruptive field. It is "I can make this much money on my own; imagine what I can do with your backing; in return, you get a share of the returns." That's a large part of the investment activity in this country right there - a fact regularly bemoaned by those who are indeed trying to crack new markets by living in a bedsit and eating beans, who often say "it isn't fair; they only invest in people who don't need the money..."
I'm not so sure an investor would be willing to invest their money when any return results in them not in receiving any return personally, but for the already incredibly wealthy person they investing in becoming even wealthier whilst they see a loss...Chadwick isn't an investor pitch for a startup in a disruptive field. It is "I can make this much money on my own; imagine what I can do with your backing; in return, you get a share of the returns." That's a large part of the investment activity in this country right there - a fact regularly bemoaned by those who are indeed trying to crack new markets by living in a bedsit and eating beans, who often say "it isn't fair; they only invest in people who don't need the money..."
A pure hypothetical here. How would an investors spending millions investing in Jamie Chadwick to finish midfield in a championship contending Andretti IndyNXT car get a return? When it is Jamie that is laughing all the way to the way the bank having taking your money to be average at best whilst mummy & daddy still subsidise her lavish lifestyle? You lose every penny/peso/cent invested and she benefits not you?
Most companies would see more return by sponsoring their local football team than they would sponsoring a racing driver. The likelihood a racing driver making it is miniscule in comparison.
If Chadwick is such a good investment, why aren't companies lining up to pay for her lavish privileged life? Because it isn't! Paying for a rich brat's hobbies doesn't make companies any money. Andretti will be losing a fortune wasting their IndyNXT win capable car on a driver who finishes 10th on average. But woke virtue signalling takes priority over sensibility. Dumping Chadwick & Hiring Collett would benefit Andretti immediately from a racing perspective, but they won't.
But I can speak from experience of raising money, YMMV.As regards "virtue signalling" and so on, if that's worth more to Andretti and their sponsors than swapping her for somebody else, that's a commercial decision. Andretti aren't bound to pick only the most likely winner. In any case, she's got 2 podiums and 1 win from 9 races so far this year, and is helping Andretti lead the Teams Championship. Is it that hard to see why this could be good for everyone?
Leithen said:
Well done to Jamie (and Filipe) at the test. Being 1% away from the champion is a damn good effort, especially as they mentioned from the smallest driver ever to drive the car, and at the most physically demanding circuit. 
I mean I think we're all pretty much agreed she's not going to F1 but this pretty much cements it.
[quote]She had no problem making lap time in the slower speed corners. But there are three high-speed corners here that you can make big chunks of lap time on and that’s where, she wasn’t able to get the lap time
[/quote]
She was over a second slower than Drugovich who set his lap 30 odd laps later, nonetheless a great experience and great effort. Some crucial data and stepping stones to maybe seeing women in the future, even if it's not Chadwick herself.
[quote]She had no problem making lap time in the slower speed corners. But there are three high-speed corners here that you can make big chunks of lap time on and that’s where, she wasn’t able to get the lap time
[/quote]
She was over a second slower than Drugovich who set his lap 30 odd laps later, nonetheless a great experience and great effort. Some crucial data and stepping stones to maybe seeing women in the future, even if it's not Chadwick herself.
TikTak said:
I mean I think we're all pretty much agreed she's not going to F1 but this pretty much cements it.
I mean, there are drivers in F1 who are further off their teammate than Jamie was off Drugovic. Stroll is consistently a second off Alonso in qualifying and Zhou regularly 0.5-0.8 off Bottas. Even Hamilton was 0.5 off Russell at Azerbaijan!article] said:
She had no problem making lap time in the slower speed corners. But there are three high-speed corners here that you can make big chunks of lap time on and that’s where, she wasn’t able to get the lap time
She was over a second slower than Drugovich who set his lap 30 odd laps later, nonetheless a great experience and great effort. Some crucial data and stepping stones to maybe seeing women in the future, even if it's not Chadwick herself. Check out the 2023 free practice 1 results. Drugovich was 2nd quickest in not the 2nd quickest car and almost a second faster the the two Red Bulls. Also faster than Stroll.
https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2023/races/122...
Drugovich is quick and should be in F1.
https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2023/races/122...
Drugovich is quick and should be in F1.
FourWheelDrift said:
Check out the 2023 free practice 1 results. Drugovich was 2nd quickest in not the 2nd quickest car and almost a second faster the the two Red Bulls. Also faster than Stroll.
https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2023/races/122...
Drugovich is quick and should be in F1.
Filipe should absolutely have had an F1 opportunity. I now expect him to get an Indy drive and be right up there next season. https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2023/races/122...
Drugovich is quick and should be in F1.
It would appear that the feedback from within Indycar is that she did very well.
Those who want to find fault will of course diminish her achievements, which in my opinion is a great pity.
She's done bloody well this year, answered a lot of questions, and impressed a lot of people stateside.
Those who want to find fault will of course diminish her achievements, which in my opinion is a great pity.
She's done bloody well this year, answered a lot of questions, and impressed a lot of people stateside.
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