F1 to Women: We want you

Only five women have competed in Formula One. The last one to start in an F1 race was Lella Lombardi … in 1976. A former delivery van driver for her family’s butcher shop in Italy, Lombardi won fans with her punishing speed and grit. When a journalist asked her how it felt to pilot such big cars, she replied, “I don’t have to carry it, I just have to drive it.”

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F1 organizers seem to have realized that it’s time to have a woman (or two—gasp) back on the grid. This year they’re introducing the F1 Academy, a racing series and training program for women. “We will prove that female drivers have what it takes to compete at high levels,” says F1 Academy manager Bruno Michel, who’s also chief executive officer of F2 and F3, the series that feed drivers into F1.

Set to include 15  cars across 5 teams in a 21-race season, the academy will receive $156,000 per car from F1, and drivers must contribute the same amount with their own money or through sponsorships. F1 says it will also feature an academy race at a Grand Prix in 2023.

The idea is that the F1 Academy will recruit talent from go-karting and junior racing series, give them loads of seat time and coaching in modified F4 cars, then graduate them directly to F3, F2 and, in two or three years, F1. (F4 is an open-wheel racing category intended for junior drivers; the cars use four-cylinder engines with a power output capped at 160 brake horsepower.)

“F1 has faced reality regarding the lack of women in the sport,” says Vincenzo Landino, a motorsports reporter at FormulaMetric.com. “The fact that F1 responded by starting a pipeline shows it.”