No Reason Why We Cannot Have A Female Formula 1 Champion': Says F1 Data Director

Tuesday, 14 November 2023 at 07:00

Updated at Tuesday, 14 November 2023 at 09:09

Former Ferrari engineer and current F1's director of data systems Rob Smedley recently said, "There is no reason why we cannot have a female Formula 1 champion."

Could you guess how many women drivers were there in the 73-year history of the Formula One World Championship? The answer is five.

There have been only five women who actually recorded a race entry. Two of them started the race, and only one of them managed to score points - Lella Lombardi scored 0,5 points during the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix.

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You might ask why is there no women F1 drivers, and there are multiple answers. Some of them include a lack of support, limited opportunities, and a super competitive environment.

However, F1's director of data systems, Rob Smedley, recently told Top Gear: "I believe there is no reason why we cannot have a female Formula 1 champion."

Smedley explained F1 wants to see women in motorsport and therefore all kinds of intitiatives have emerged recently like W Series or F1 Academy.

"We really want to see more women in motorsport. All kinds of initiatives are now emerging that we all support. But there isn't going to be one thing that will solve this problem. What we would like to do is create a less traditional atmosphere."

Multiple F1 drivers like Lewis Hamilton for example expressed huge support for women in Formula One, but that is not enough as Smedley elaborated:

"You're not going to solve that by having a middle-aged man preach about it. It only works if you have young female drivers who end up in this series and tell their stories."

It remains unclear whether we will see a woman driver in Formula One in the near future. Smedley said it is important to give them the right opportunities to develop and see where it takes us.

"We are trying to do something new here, at the same time, we are of course still looking for drivers with the talent to eventually enter Formula 1. We'll see eventually if it works or not. And if not, so be it. But at least we have given female drivers the right opportunities to develop."