Lewis Hamilton thinks “a lot more” needs to be done to help female W Series drivers progress to other classes
Seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton believes that too little is still being done to give women more opportunities in racing and, for example, to make the step up from the W Series into other classes.
During the race weekend at the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Brit took time to visit the paddock of the all-female championship and speak to some of the women taking part. The series is running in its third season.
“I’ve been following the W Series all year and for the past few years, and I really wanted to pay them a visit to see these young, inspiring women there,” Hamilton said when asked about his flying visit to the up-and-coming female talent in Hungary.
“I watched their races between practices and I watched their racing here as well. I think it’s great that we have the W series,” he stresses.
But that is not enough. The Mercedes driver sees a need for action: “We as a sport need to do a lot more for young girls coming into the sport, and also for these women, if there is no progression from that, from the W Series.”
“It’s been three years now, so we really need to work on building something. If you win this, do you move up to GP2 (Formula 2; ed.) or whatever it might be? We can definitely do a lot more to support these women,” Hamilton feels.
W Series’ first-ever woman race-winning engineer
Sara Morgan, who engineered @JamieChadwick‘s car at WSeriesFrance became WSeries‘ first ever woman race-winning engineer. Mega job pic.twitter.com/W9EtqucgSy
– W Series (@WSeriesRacing) July 25, 2022
Jamie Chadwick is on track to win her third W Series title in 2022. The 24-year-old Briton has won five of the six races so far this season and leads by 75 points with four races to go.
But Chadwick is struggling to climb further up the ladder despite her titles, which is why she is staying in the W Series longer than she had anticipated herself.
While there is prize money for all female riders. But Chadwick said late last year that it “doesn’t get you very far” in trying to secure the most competitive cockpits possible in championships like Formula 2 and Formula 3.
The 24-year-old eventually returned to the W Series for 2022, driving for the newly formed Jenner Racing team. With fellow driver Abbi Pulling, she is one of the final 10 contenders in the running for this year’s Autosport BRDC Award, which promotes the best young British talent.