Jamie Chadwick - First competitive female driver in F1?

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

Milkyway said:

The Three Ellas

Susie Wolff reckons that there will be women in F1 within ten years... So they are in their early karting years at the moment.

Edited by Milkyway on Tuesday 18th November 18:52

When the winner of the Formula 2 championship can't even get a sniff of an F1 drive I think there is zero chance of this. The inconvenient truth is keeping women in women only ringfenced motorsport because they can't even cut it in F3 is unlikely to lead to an F1 drive.

For starters, none of them are ever going to have enough super licence points.

[bergclimber34]

Horse competition and motorsport are remarkably similar in that it is one of very few sports where men and women can compete right at the top level equally, and trying to undo interest in equestrianism is not the right approach really.

We are now seeing a lot more female presenters, Sky leading the way with the excellent Berni, Jamie and others, we are seeing strategists, engineers, this is a slow burn, but it will happen, there are a lot if good things about a racing career, but you have to also combine this with relationships and the desire for parenthood which impacts a female athlete or employee who travels far more than a man.

There could be a time when a girl comes along who is utterly selfish, driven and has only desire and talent on her side, meaning the fitness would come aswell I hope.

[732NM]

bergclimber34 said:

I think you are very misguided if you think ELMS or WEC are not elite level, even Indy NXT s getting close a place she won races.

Clearly you have some issues around this so perhaps best to move on or away. I am sure Hyundai are not employing her for her gender, there is always that aspect, she is not stupid, she knows this.

Clearly you have not read what i wrote.

[bergclimber34]

"not behind the wheel at elite level"

Those were your exact words lol

ELMS and WEC even more so are elite level, yes amateurs and driver level is ranked with ratings, but it for sure is elite, watch the Fassbender Porsche stuff if you think otherwise

[732NM]

bergclimber34 said:

"not behind the wheel at elite level"

Those were your exact words lol

ELMS and WEC even more so are elite level, yes amateurs and driver level is ranked with ratings, but it for sure is elite, watch the Fassbender Porsche stuff if you think otherwise

I used a lot more words than that. Stop being a berg.

[bergclimber34]

Maybe, but it's fairly obvious what the inference is.

Sometime, it will happen, it nearly happened in rallying 40 years ago, so who is to say in time it won't in what you call elite notorsport

[TheDeuce]

ChrisRyan said:

She has talent and the link with Williams gives her a good path into higher categories, but F1 still expects years of mileage in F2 or similar before a team takes that step. If she keeps winning and builds the experience, the door is open. The bigger question is whether a team is ready to commit when the pressure is intense at that level.

She took herself away from progression towards a potential F1 drive years ago. She had the option of an F3 drive but at the time cited insufficient funds - I strongly suspect that with her relatively high profile and relatively few women to get an F3 drive, she could have found sponsors quite easily and covered off the full cost.

I think she did an interview around that time in which she basically stated she wanted to buy a house as a racing drivers future is uncertain rather than risk an F3 campaign... Which makes complete sense in many ways but also strongly suggests she didn't rate her chances in F3 and saw it as something of a risk.

I'd say that based on a fair assessment of her talent and the reality of what F3/2/1 start to demand, she did the right thing for her own racing and financial future to continue competing in series she can do well enough in reliably enough to keep getting drives and pay the bills.

She's also probably done a lot to motivate a future generation of female drivers, who may perhaps deliver a talent that can go even further towards the F1 goal.

[bergclimber34]

I think she won a ton of money annually from the ill fated female series that went bust, that bought her and family houses I gather. Then she realised that path was too far, trued Anerica, did reasonably well but found Indycat a step too far physically, hence now WEC, ELMS, I thought she might stay Statesude and do IMSA, usually we'll paid

[TheDeuce]

bergclimber34 said:

I think she won a ton of money annually from the ill fated female series that went bust, that bought her and family houses I gather. Then she realised that path was too far, trued Anerica, did reasonably well but found Indycat a step too far physically, hence now WEC, ELMS, I thought she might stay Statesude and do IMSA, usually we'll paid

That was it, after back to back wins at FW she could either part fund an F3 attempt or buy the property - makes sense to buy the properties, whatever else happens career wise she had a free place to live and a valuable asset.

Since then she seems to have focussed on racing wherever she has some likelihood of decent results, which again makes sense as she wanted to be a racing driver and she needs a paycheck, so race in whichever series keeps you relevant as a racing driver and gets you paid.


The only thing I would add is that as and when a woman is uncovered that could hold her own in F1, I would expect that particular woman's mentality to be more along the lines of "of course I can do F3, I'm not buying a house - get me the F3 seat so I can win!!!". Because the lads that also didn't have millionaire dads paying their way do tend to have that mentality, there's no long term plan other than progression towards F1 until the point that it becomes definitely beyond their reach.