73 replies to this topic

[cjm321190]

Indy NXT Road America won my Jamie Chadwick. Seems she is making steady progress, great to see as W Series i sure felt was a bit Meh. Could not find anything on Autosport. Amazing how virtual signing from the motorsport community. You would think they would be all over this. Anyways hopefully she can keep progressing, get a future shot in Indycar.

[Risil]

Congratulations Jamie Chadwick! Very very pleased for her.

(Who was the last woman to win in one of the main junior single-seater categories? Simona?)

[messy]

It would be nice if she still ended up having a good career in Indycar. I'd kind of felt like spending so long headlining the W Series didn't do her much good, but who knows if that maybe eventually opened this door. A pole to flag win at a real drivers circuit like this is properly good stuff and I hope she keeps it up.

[Muppetmad]

It's taken her a while, but it's great to see her finally get a win under her belt. Let's see if she can maintain this momentum and perhaps put herself in the shop window for an IndyCar seat in the future.

[ensign14]

Indy NXT Road America won my Jamie Chadwick. Seems she is making steady progress, great to see as W Series i sure felt was a bit Meh. Could not find anything on Autosport.

 

It was on the front landing page, under the F1 stuff.

[AncientLurker]

Awesome news. Hope this gives her even more confidence for the rest of the season and gets her some interest from the IndyCar teams.

[Sterzo]

Congratulations Jamie Chadwick! Very very pleased for her.

(Who was the last woman to win in one of the main junior single-seater categories? Simona?)

Not at the same level, but Alisha Palmowski won a GB4 race convincingly at the March 31 Oulton Park meeting.
 

[Frood]

Not at the same level, but Alisha Palmowski won a GB4 race convincingly at the March 31 Oulton Park meeting.

Indeed, and in FIA certified series, Doriane Pin and Abbi Pulling have won races this year in UAE and British F4 respectively (the latter from a reverse grid race). On the next step up, Formula Regional, Chloe Chambers won a race last year in Formula Regional Oceania; Miki Koyama won the Formula Regional Japanese Championship a couple of years ago, though that is likely the weakest Formula Regional series.

[Bloggsworth]

Sky posit that Chadwick has taken another step towards F1 - If Jamie won every IndyCar race from now till doomsday, she still wouldn't get an F1 FP1 appearance...

[Risil]

They are a bit hyperfocused on F1. Indycar, or failing that a good IMSA car are possible if she builds on this result.

[cpbell]

They are a bit hyperfocused on F1. Indycar, or failing that a good IMSA car are possible if she builds on this result.

Absolutely.

[jonpollak]

(Who was the last woman to win in one of the main junior single-seater categories? Simona?)

 
Indy Lights?...
Bia Figueiredo at Iowa Speedway 2009

 
Jp

Edited by jonpollak, 10 June 2024 - 18:44.

[Risil]

I think Ana Beatriz got some good results that season too

[jonpollak]

In 2008 she won at Nashville speedway (home of this years IndyCar finale) and finished 3rd in the championship.
 
Jp

[Radoye]

 
Indy Lights?...
Bia Figueiredo at Iowa Speedway 2009

 
Jp

 

Pippa Mann 2010 at Kentucky Speedway.

[Afterburner]

She seems to be positioning herself as the natural heir to Katherine Legge's annual Indy 500 attempt.

[Sterzo]

She seems to be positioning herself as the natural heir to Katherine Legge's annual Indy 500 attempt.

In 2003, at the start of an Oulton Park F3 race, a competitor swerved and turned Katherine Legge's car upside down. A scurrilous story circulated that the hot-headed young man just wanted to get a Legge over.

[FLB]

She seems to be positioning herself as the natural heir to Katherine Legge's annual Indy 500 attempt.

I think it's going to be more than that... and soon. I woudn't be surprised if she got a call to  test a proper IndyCar this season, at the very least.

[azza200]

They are a bit hyperfocused on F1. Indycar, or failing that a good IMSA car are possible if she builds on this result.

 

IMSA or any sportscar series WEC they would do well in. Dorian Pin for example has had a great career already in sportscars shame to see her focus more on single seaters she is far better suited to driving GT3's and sportscars with the Iron Dames which is a far better program for woman then W series 

[KWSN - DSM]

Well done Jamie, well done indeed.

[BRG]

IMSA or any sportscar series WEC they would do well in. Dorian Pin for example has had a great career already in sportscars shame to see her focus more on single seaters she is far better suited to driving GT3's and sportscars with the Iron Dames which is a far better program for woman then W series 

Chadwick was a British GT champion a few years back.  I have always thought she would do best in the WEC.  She is able to lap with almost metronomic accuracy of pace, almost never makes a mistake or even runs wide.  At Road America on Sunday, she drove conservatively barely using the kerbs all through the race, whilst behind her the young guns were all over the place   I see her as a natural endurance racer rather than a top single seat racer. 

 

But if she is offered a shot at Indycars, why not give it a go?  Indycars has a decent record of female drivers compared to F1 which remains devoutly misogynistic.   And as an Andretti driver, she would have the door slammed in her face by F1 anyway.  Not bringing any added value after all! 

Edited by BRG, 11 June 2024 - 09:13.

[jonpollak]

Which is a far better program for woman then W series

Or even F1Acadamy !!!

Jp

[Sterzo]

I'm probably a bit biased, having seen Jamie Chadwick giving it all in British GT4 and F3 (chasing the field at Snetterton in one of those do-or-die drives that follows being punted off, or notching up a reversed-grid win at Brands). Plus, of course, clinching the W Series championship at Brands. Also, she smiled at me in the paddock... Like any racing driver, she will aim high, but I'd be surprised if she could sustain an Indycar career. There are so many excellent drivers out there, and the funnel narrows towards the top in a drastic manner.

[Frood]

Given the right support, I think she'd do okay in IndyCar. Have a look at Kyffin Simpson - he's got the worst CV of anyone graduating into the big cars from Lights/NXT in recent years, but with the support of Ganassi, he's actually been pretty decent this year. Jamie now has a better NXT record than he did, so there's no reason she couldn't do the same.

[Spillage]

I thought it was a real shame (and not a great indictment on the European system) that she had to go to America to further her career after absolutely dominating the W series for three consecutive seasons. I'm not at all surprised to learn she's doing well over there. I hope she gets a chance in Indycar sometime soon.

[KWSN - DSM]

Winning from Pole in a full field is what a good driver is supposed to do, she did.. Surprised me that she did, but she did showing me she is better than I saw her being before this weekend.

[Sterzo]

I thought it was a real shame (and not a great indictment on the European system) that she had to go to America to further her career after absolutely dominating the W series for three consecutive seasons. I'm not at all surprised to learn she's doing well over there. I hope she gets a chance in Indycar sometime soon.

Not sure I'd read it that way. Jamie had two seasons in British F4, two seasons in GT4 (the "B" class of British GT), and two seasons in British F3. As said before, she's not the only one to encounter the narrowing funnel on the way to the top. Where now is Enaam Ahmed who was British F3 champion, or her co-driver Ross Gunn who was the "Pro" to her "Am" in that GT win? Or all those who finished ahead of Jamie in in all those series she didn't win?

 

The answer is that none is being touted as a future Indycar competitor.

 

Like others on the thread, I want (and always have wanted) to see more female competitors, and I like various the initiatives to encourage that. But when it comes to evaluating the potential of an individual driver, surely we should disregard gender and compare the racing record with other candidates.

[se7en_24]

Indycars has a decent record of female drivers compared to F1 which remains devoutly misogynistic.   

That seems a bit unfair. Without F1 I doubt Jamie would have been in Indy NXT at all, let alone have a dedicated thread about her here. W Series was given a way higher billing by F1 than it deserved as a feeder series, in relation to raw talent. Without her destroying that field for a few years, what would her single seater career have looked like? Good to see her doing well over the pond.

Edited by se7en_24, 11 June 2024 - 10:01.

[Frood]

...Where now is Enaam Ahmed who was British F3 champion...

The answer is that none is being touted as a future Indycar competitor.

To be fair, Ahmed was in NXT until he ran out of money half way through last year, so he was at least on the IndyCar radar.

[Gambelli]

Well done to Jamie.

 

I'd like to see another female in Indycar, Was always a fan of Lyn St James, Katherine Legge (that ferocious Road America crash - damn, wlaked away like nothing happened, so gutsy!) Danica. (of course) 

 

So if we got to see Jamie in Indycar in a couple of years time, with a solid ride, that would be great.

 

Ultimately, 2 or three females in a series like that, there on merit of course, would be fantastic!

[Red5ive]

That seems a bit unfair. Without F1 I doubt Jamie would have been in Indy NXT at all, let alone have a dedicated thread about her here. W Series was given a way higher billing by F1 than it deserved as a feeder series, in relation to raw talent. Without her destroying that field for a few years, what would her single seater career have looked like? Good to see her doing well over the pond.

The elephant in the room for F1 is they talk a lot about diversity and women in the sport but fail to even consider one for a seat.

 

i remember when Suzie Wolff was supposedly a reserve driver but somehow didn’t get a drive when the opportunity arose. They could have easily given Chadwick a rookie drive in an FP1 Session but again it didn’t happen - despite her dominance of the W series.

[Gambelli]

The elephant in the room for F1 is they talk a lot about diversity and women in the sport but fail to even consider one for a seat.

 

i remember when Suzie Wolff was supposedly a reserve driver but somehow didn’t get a drive when the opportunity arose. They could have easily given Chadwick a rookie drive in an FP1 Session but again it didn’t happen - despite her dominance of the W series.

 

Yes exactly, for all that work, no one offered up a ride to just try her out.

 

Hamilton as an example should have been the first to offer his seat up for an FP1, and I only say that becuase he was spearheading the diversity push, so why not do something thats actually easily within your power and offer up the seat, it would have been fantastic optics for him too.

 

The responsibility doesn't just lie at Hamilton's door of course, there's 10 teams out there, just one, for one session, who could have given her a go and been praised for it.

 

I think it's terrible it never happened.

 

Or hell, if they really want to double down, have a Post Season half day session in Abu Dhabi for female drivers.....

[Collombin]

If there's sarcasm in the above posts, apologies for missing it, but Susie Wolff's results would not have got her anywhere an F1 reserve seat had she been male. Her gender helped, not hindered.

No F1 team would pass up on a female driver with the talent to have earned a seat through merit. They'd be queueing up to sign her.

Edited by Collombin, 11 June 2024 - 12:10.

[se7en_24]

They could have easily given Chadwick a rookie drive in an FP1 Session but again it didn’t happen - despite her dominance of the W series.

W series was a feeder series for Indy NXT or F1 Academy, that is nowhere near the level I'd expect for actual participation in an F1 weekend. 

[Gambelli]

If there's sarcasm in the above posts, apologies for missing it, but Susie Wolff's results would not have got her anywhere an F1 reserve seat had she been male. Her gender helped, not hindered.

No F1 team would pass up on a female driver with the talent to have earned a seat through merit. They'd be queueing up to sign her.

 

No sarcasm from me, I think as multiple winner of W series Jamie should have at least been given an FP1 run somewhere over the years.  The whole point of that series was to give women a bit more opportunity, yet the one she actually needed was her bum in a seat in front of the F1 paddock.

 

In regards to Suzie Wolff.  I entirely agree with you, but don't sign her as your reserve driver if she's not good enough to drive the car, ever, that's just cringe induced pandering!

[Gambelli]

W series was a feeder series for Indy NXT or F1 Academy, that is nowhere near the level I'd expect for actual participation in an F1 weekend. 

 

 

Yep, fair too, except at no point were they ever trying to level the playing field for women drivers, they were trying to promote them, not necessarily 'above' male drivers, but certainly highlight them.  In that context I think one FP1 drive wasn't too much to offer in the name of promoting the female cause.

 

It wasn't about who genuinely earned it, other than beating everyone else in that series.  Normally I'm against any gender favoritism what so ever, but i would have been okay with that....

[Secretariat]

At a minimum, I am kind of surprised that there is not more simulator work available (that we know of) for prospective women drivers. Seems that if F1 and F1A are doing some collaboration there should be a mechanism where at least that opportunity is occurring more regularly.  

[PayasYouRace]

No sarcasm from me, I think as multiple winner of W series Jamie should have at least been given an FP1 run somewhere over the years. The whole point of that series was to give women a bit more opportunity, yet the one she actually needed was her bum in a seat in front of the F1 paddock.

In regards to Suzie Wolff. I entirely agree with you, but don't sign her as your reserve driver if she's not good enough to drive the car, ever, that's just cringe induced pandering!

Suzie did a competent job in her FP1 appearances though.

[Gambelli]

Suzie did a competent job in her FP1 appearances though.

 

Okay, well there you go, I don't remember them at all!  Glad she was given a go at least, thats good!

 

I think Jamie would do a solid job in an FP1 session and may well be a good sim driver for a team

[Risil]

The elephant in the room for F1 is they talk a lot about diversity and women in the sport but fail to even consider one for a seat.

i remember when Suzie Wolff was supposedly a reserve driver but somehow didn’t get a drive when the opportunity arose. They could have easily given Chadwick a rookie drive in an FP1 Session but again it didn’t happen - despite her dominance of the W series.

Some of the problem is the cost and structure of F1. If you look at how woman drivers have got started in Indycar, they were normally the result of either established teams running an extra car in the hope that sponsorship could be raised to cover the cost, or the driver putting the sponsorship together herself.

I think it's equally likely that a woman would get a race drive in F1 or one of the permanent, paid Indycar drives. i.e. not very.

[B Squared]

Maybe my memory is failing me, didn't she test for Foyt in an Indy car?

[Myrvold]

Suzie did a competent job in her FP1 appearances though.

 

Yup, in problem free sessions she always had quite a few cars behind. IIRC, her FP1 times would at times been enough to not start from the back row of the grid as well. Granted, this was in the days of Caterham and Marussia, but considering the expectations etc.

[BRG]

No F1 team would pass up on a female driver with the talent to have earned a seat through merit. They'd be queueing up to sign her.

If only that were true, but we see all the time that F1 teams are so incredibly risk-averse, they would rather keep using failures and washed-up has-beens rather than risk signing a new young driver who has just won F2.  So a female driver has less than zero chance.  They might talk about diversity in F1 but it is really a formula for white males.  

 

I was strongly opposed to W Series and now F1A as ghetto series for women only but I have to concede that they have done a lot to get more women into the sport generally.  Jamie C's career  would probably have petered out without the W Series, and it has brought Alice Powell and Jade Edwards into TV commentary and punditry roles.  Maybe it even gave impetus to initiatives like the Iron Dames.  If we see more and more women at lower levels as seems to be happening, maybe a breakthrough will come one day.

[Sterzo]

Yep, fair too, except at no point were they ever trying to level the playing field for women drivers, they were trying to promote them, not necessarily 'above' male drivers, but certainly highlight them.  In that context I think one FP1 drive wasn't too much to offer in the name of promoting the female cause.

 

It wasn't about who genuinely earned it, other than beating everyone else in that series.  Normally I'm against any gender favoritism what so ever, but i would have been okay with that....

It's never been 100% clear what the objective of W Series was. Inevitably, some of the PR implied they were looking for a female F1 driver. Whereas to me, the attraction of an all-female series is encouraging more girls to enter in the first place.

 

At present it would be astonishing (though not impossible) to find top talent in the small pool of existing female drivers. And the narrative from a minority (not including the W Series drivers themselves, who all denied it in interviews) that women were blocked from progressing in a male world was, I think, counter-productive. The only female driver I can think of who hinted at that was Danica Patrick, who felt she wasn't taken seriously by the Formula Ford Jamun team in England. Whether true or not, I do not know.

[AncientLurker]

At a minimum, I am kind of surprised that there is not more simulator work available (that we know of) for prospective women drivers. Seems that if F1 and F1A are doing some collaboration there should be a mechanism where at least that opportunity is occurring more regularly.  

The way F1 is now, with marketing and sponsorship being a huge factor in driver choices, I think a competent female driver like Jamie would be a huge asset to an F1 team. If drivers can stick around past their prime just because of their marketability, and we have drivers who are not there on merit alone, F1 could definitely make room for a talented female driver who would draw in a whole new generation and demographic of fans.

 

I hope she does well and finds a drive in a top series where she is happy and competitive. Selfishly, I am hoping it is IndyCar over F1, because I want the Indy series to do well.

Edited by AncientLurker, 11 June 2024 - 16:01.

[juicy sushi]

Honestly, I am not sure if she is on Simona de Silvestro or Kat Legge's level, but I think she could probably do a decent job in IMSA.  And there is nothing to be sniffed out about being a competitive pro driver in IMSA/WEC/ELMS.  That's a very deep talent pool of proper drivers.  If you can earn a living there, you're legit.

[Nemo1965]

Chadwick was a British GT champion a few years back. I have always thought she would do best in the WEC. She is able to lap with almost metronomic accuracy of pace, almost never makes a mistake or even runs wide. At Road America on Sunday, she drove conservatively barely using the kerbs all through the race, whilst behind her the young guns were all over the place I see her as a natural endurance racer rather than a top single seat racer.

But if she is offered a shot at Indycars, why not give it a go? Indycars has a decent record of female drivers compared to F1 which remains devoutly misogynistic. And as an Andretti driver, she would have the door slammed in her face by F1 anyway. Not bringing any added value after all!

I’ll tell you how misogynistic F1 is: if there is any female driver out there who is just as good as Nikita Mazepin, she would be in F1. Even the most racist, prejudiced anus of a F1-owner would kill for the marketing and publicity-chances a female driver would bring. At a certain level - from F3 onwards - any disadvantage because of gender or race becomes an advantage. And at the moment, that certainly applies for female drivers. But the sheer numbers work against finding even such a modest talent. For every 300 boys that kart perhaps there are 10 girls? Perhaps William Hunt knows exactly.

PS: I see that on the website of the Dutch federation there are 300 people with a karting license in the Netherlands. In the country of Max! If that is true that is terrible disappointment.

Edited by Nemo1965, 11 June 2024 - 14:25.

[Secretariat]

The way F1 is now, with marketing and sponsorship being a huge factor in driver choices, I think a competent female driver like Jamie would be a huge asset to an F1 team. If drivers can stick around past their prime just because of their marketability, and we have drivers who are not their on merit alone, F1 could definitely make room for a talented female driver who would draw in a whole new generation and demographic of fans.

 

I hope she does well and finds a drive in a top series where she is happy and competitive. Selfishly, I am hoping it is IndyCar over F1, because I want the Indy series to do well.

Yeah, makes sense to me. If she continues to be competitive, Andretti certainly has the means to give her a car.

[MikeTekRacing]

If only that were true, but we see all the time that F1 teams are so incredibly risk-averse, they would rather keep using failures and washed-up has-beens rather than risk signing a new young driver who has just won F2.  So a female driver has less than zero chance.  They might talk about diversity in F1 but it is really a formula for white males.  

 

I was strongly opposed to W Series and now F1A as ghetto series for women only but I have to concede that they have done a lot to get more women into the sport generally.  Jamie C's career  would probably have petered out without the W Series, and it has brought Alice Powell and Jade Edwards into TV commentary and punditry roles.  Maybe it even gave impetus to initiatives like the Iron Dames.  If we see more and more women at lower levels as seems to be happening, maybe a breakthrough will come one day.

there needs to be someone talented enough to be on the grid. There are only 20 cars on the grid and the bar is pretty high. Look at de Vries, winning lots of things outside of F1, failed miserably in F1. AT bring back Daniel who is far from his old shining self, yet he is instantly an upgrade on De Vries. It's not that easy to be at the level of the washed  up drivers. 

Before talking about F1, there needs to be a solid presence and solid chances in F3 and F2. There are disconnects, as you point out, mostly at lower levels.

[jonpollak]

I’ll tell you how misogynistic F1 is: if there is any female driver out there who is just as good as Nikita Mazepin, she would be in F1. Even the most racist, prejudiced anus of a F1-owner would kill for the marketing and publicity-chances a female driver would bring..

What was it Bernie said….???
I’m paraphrasing here but something to the effect of..

‘Let’s get a Black Jewish Woman in the car’

Jp