W Series

[HustleRussell]

W Series, as discussed previously here begins in earnest this Saturday at Hockenheim.

Events will be shown live on C4 with this weekend's coverage starting at 14:45 if I remember correctly.

The grid consists of 18 exclusively female drivers selected through a merit-based screening process.

[HustleRussell]

abzmike said:

'exclusively female' and 'merit based'.... hmmm...
Motorsport seems to be trying to fix a problem by creating one.

This debate has been done to death in the existing thread which I linked in the OP.

With this thread I was intending to remind people that it's on, tell people how to watch and discuss the racing itself.

[HustleRussell]

Claire Cottingham is not a very good commentator unfortunately.

[HustleRussell]

Zoobeef said:

Cold said:

The "worst thirty minutes" of her life - apparently!
Onward and upward for her.

She should try listening to the commentary.

Great little series which established a meritocracy early and yet didn't become a procession.

An interesting thought occurred to me this morning- where do we think that the much maligned Lance Stroll would've figured if he was in the mix?

Personally I reckon he would've won it.

I hope that W Series' top drivers will quickly outgrow it and graduate into mainstream, unsegregated racing.

[HustleRussell]

I am very sorry to be ‘that guy’, but if you’re wondering why the W Series race had more action than the Grand Prix;
-It is a spec series
-The level of driver preparation and driver talent is relatively lower

I enjoyed the race and I enjoyed the series throughout its first year, but to me it is like watching a British Formula 4 level race.

The series is a vehicle to uncover future F1 level talents who are female. It is necessary because we have not seen such for decades.

[HustleRussell]

Chadwick’s winning margin was interesting, it’s quite encouraging for the competitiveness of the season if 7 seconds is a true reflection of relative pace in Austria. Or was she managing the gap?

[HustleRussell]

That the series exists at all is a win and that has depended on support and sponsorship from a number of parties. They presumably had to go to tender for 20 rolling chassis and engines for each season. Who's to say that 20x current F3 chassis and engine packages were available? or were sensible value compared to what else was available?

I think I remember hearing that Alfa Romeo were very supportive.

[HustleRussell]

Castellet said:

ajprice said:

F1 is setting up it's own 'F1 Academy' female driver series based around F4 cars, so a step below the sort of F3 W Series cars, with more track time and more races. https://the-race.com/formula-1/f1s-new-all-female-...

Good to see F1 encouraging more girls to come through the system into racing, but surely, at this point in time, a merged series with W Series, would have been a better move - rather than the two competing?

Can't really see this ending any other way than with W-Series promptly folding. It's served its purpose, and if it continues it will only dilute the pool.