Jamie Chadwick: Formula 1 “is desperate to see a female succeed”
- Bevan Youl
Winner of the inaugural 2019 W Series Jamie Chadwick believes that Formula 1 “is desperate to see a female succeed” in the male dominated sport, saying that there isn’t a reason for there to be a lack of women but that they need to be “there on merit”.
Chadwick has said that it is her “ultimate goal” to drive in F1 and to possibility to do so is ever closer this year after Williams took her on as a development driver for the team.
But the pinnacle of motorsport hasn’t seen a female driver on the grid since Lella Lombardi drove for RAM Racing in1976.
Chadwick said to talkSPORT: “The sport’s obviously heavily male-dominated but in my view, I don’t think there’s a reason for that.
“I think the sport is desperate to see a female succeed. The sport does want a female racing driver but they’ve got to be there on merit.
“Some of the most influential people in motorsport are women. For example, my team boss at Williams is Claire Williams.
“We’re starting to see more and more. It’s a numbers game and we just need more women to rise to the top in all degrees of the sport and hopefully, that will end this male dominance that we’ve got.”
Not only does Chadwick have the W Series title but earlier this year became the first woman to win the MRF Challenge championship and back in 2015 won the British GT Championship in the GT4 class.
Could we see her in F1 soon?