Why Are There No Women Drivers in F1?

Bruce yours is one of the most well reasoned answers I've ever heard not to just racing but pro athletes in general. Major Kudos!!

 

The first part of Meister's response is somewhat misguided though, but his numbers argument is dead on.

Single seater racing is exceedingly demanding from a physical perspective; in particular the feeder series. It's no coincidence that most of the girls drop out of karts by the time they're 14 or so. The average woman has something like 30% the upper body strength of the average man. Girls can handle 250lb karts with 45" rear tracks and 4" wide tires. They do very well in the junior karts. Come 15 though, puberty has hit, the boys are ready to step up to full size karts that are 350+lbs, 55" rear tracks, with 7" rear tires and two to three times as much power. The girls are not. They're simply not strong enough. This is the problem. How do you bridge this 5 year gap where the boys are in Shifter, TaG, and ICA karts? Once they hit 20 or so and step up to full size single-seaters (power steering - no more manual weight jacking), girls would presumably have a shot again. But how do you overcome those 5 years of not being at the top level of competition in a road racing career?

There are a lot of things going against the gals making it in racing.

 

That is assuming that the only way to go racing cars is through years of go kart, and that you must start your career at the age of 5, which you don't.

The link between go kart and single seater is only recent (last 20 years?), before the progression was from a junior saloon car category, to an entry level single seater. Some of the fastest drivers have never touched a go kart in their life.

Also, I'm not sure that starting too young is the solution, although parents like to think so. people used to start racing later and finished in their 40s/50s. Now, we see drivers retiring in their 30s, having done 20 years of racing.

 

An entry level single seater is about 10 times more expensive than a kart. So if you do not make it racing karts, there is no point of blowing 200K in a car.

And I can't think of any fast driver (current) that did not start in karts.

 

Maria Teresa de Filippis, an Italian aristocratic lady with a passion for cars drove a Maserati 250F in F.1 in the 50's, when Fangio was winning world championships with that car. She was a heroin for women of her time, but she was never fast enough to compete at the top. Probably the cars of the time were too brutal and tough for even an athletic lady (and athletic preparation as we know it didn't exist at the time, anyway). NB: A very spirited lady, she still drives in historical events like the Mille Miglia today.

Lella Lombardi was a tough girl from Milan, she grew up eating conrods and drinking high-octane fuel, she had racing in her blood. She actually managed to be competitive in F.1 in 1976-1977 despite a mediocre car, coming 6th in a race and being the only woman to ever score a point. She never got a better car to drive, in the male-ruled F.1 of the time she had to be a real tough cookie. She raced against the likes of Lauda, Peterson, Fittipaldi, Andretti, Hunt. She went on to touring cars in the '80s, winning several European titles with a factory Alfa GTV V6, regularly thrashing the all-men line-up. She died sadly of cancer in the '90s.

Giovanna Amati tried and failed to qualify her hopeless Brabham F.1 in 1991. Her team mate was a certain Damon Hill, who was faster but also struggled to qualify a truly awful car. She never got a second chance, today she's a journalist for Italian TV.

Prisca Taruffi (daughter of the '50s F.1 driver) was very successful up to a point, but never made it into F.1

Many young girls enjoyed great success in European Karting, but by the time they reach F3 or F3000 they "ran out of steam" - or more likely, they had to compete against more selected and physically better prepared men, and never managed to break the male monopoly. The most successful lady drivers in Europe today are the remarkable Lilian Bryner, who despite being an amateur in her 40's drove a Prodrive Ferrari F550 in the world FIA-GT championship with her partner Calderari, always with excellent overall results (and also a couple of outright wins!); Christina Surer, very aggressive and fast with her BMW in the Euro Touring Championship; and now we have the daughter of Jacky Ickx, driving in the DTM.

I am sure I'm forgetting more outstanding ladies, but the bottom line is that to get into F.1 is very, very tough and most talented girls seem to find success in other forms of automotive racing.

 

She definitely has the ability, the credentials, the winning ability, set many records in ALMS . . . the list goes on, besides that, she's a very nice and definitely articulate in person and has a double career in eventing (more dangerous than driving a race car). . .

2006
· ALMS Intersport Racing - LMP2 - LOLA/AER/GOODYEAR
Petit Le Mans 4th in class
Mosport 3rd in class
Road America 3rd in class
Portland 1st in class
Salt Lake City 2nd in class
Limerock 3rd in class
Mid-Ohio 3rd in class
Houston 1st in class
Sebring 12 Hours 1st in class (2nd overall)

· Le Mans 24 Hours - Intersport Racing - LMP2 - LOLA/AER/GOODYEAR

4th in class and 19th overall despite engine and gearbox problems throughout the race

2005
· ALMS Intersport Racing - LMP2 - LOLA/AER/GOODYEAR - part season

4th overall in LMP2 Driver’s Championship
Infineon Raceway 1st in class
Road America DNF fire
Mosport 1st in class
Petit Le Mans 1st in class
Laguna Seca 5th in class

Dailysportscar.Com ‘Rookie of the Year’ award Winner

Helped co-driver Clint Field win Driver’s Championship

· FIA GT Championship - LISTER STORM GT1

Competed in full championship, best result 7th in Brno, Monza & Dubai

· Le Mans 24 Hours - Intersport Racing - LMP2 - LOLA/AER/GOODYEAR

Retired at 11 hours whilst leading LMP2 class by 3 laps and running 11th overall

2004
· Rolex Grand-Am Sports Car Series - TRG Porsche GT3 RS - 7 races

Homestead 250 3rd
Phoenix 250 4th
Daytona 250 4th
Mid Ohio 250 5th

· FIA GT Championship - Autorlando - Porsche GT3 RSR

Spa 24 Hours 6th in class/14th overall

· Le Mans Endurance Series - Autorlando - Porsche GT3 RSR

Spa 1000km 7th in class/23rd overall

· American Le Mans Series - PK Porsche GT3 RS

Competed at Petit Le Mans and the first night race at Laguna Seca

· EERC / Brit-Sports - Radical SR3
Brands Hatch 3rd and 4th

2003
· Britcar/European Endurance Racing Club (EERC) - BMW M3 E30

Oulton Park 1st

· British GT Championship - Porsche GT3 Cup - Second half of the season
Rockingham 2nd – ‘Driver of the day’
Thruxton 4th
Brands Hatch 3rd
Spa 1000km 1st – First woman to ever win a British GT Race

· Le Mans Endurance Series - TVR T400R
Le Mans Bugatti 1000km 9th in class (GT)

· Bathurst 24 Hours - Porsche GT3 RS
7th overall

· Kumho BMW Championship - BMW M3 E30 - First half of the season
Croft 1st in class, lap record, ‘Driver of the day’
Silverstone 2nd in class

2002
· Kumho BMW Championship - BMW M3 E30
‘Driver of the Season 2002’

· EERC-Britcar:
Pembrey 1st & 2nd
Donington ‘Driver of the Day’

2001
· Kumho BMW Championship - BMW M3 E30

1997 – 1999
· Started racing in a vintage Datsun 510
3 wins


GO LIZ

Carol

 

Bernie E said it best when referring to Danica "Women should be dressed in white like all other appliances". Hows that for a inviting F1 attitidude.

 

You do know that he was kidding right...

 

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Damon Hill, Jaques Villeneuve, and Jean Alesi for recent F1 drivers, I can name many more who drive in sports cars, Lemans, touring cars etc., not to mention rally drivers.

 

Yeah, I think that the link between go-kart and racing cars is greatly exagerated. As is the fact of starting young in motor racing as a decisive advantage.

Some made it big starting at a tender age in kart, but many fall by the wayside when teen-agers. Most of them carry their parents ambition, not their own motivation. It's true of all sports.

Graham Hill who went to win 2 WDC, Indy and Le Mans, couldn't drive before he was 24!

 

From the same time period: Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, and Michael Schumacher.

Out of the current crop: Raikonnen, Alonso, Trulli, Liuzzi, Speed, R.Schumacher, Barrichello, Button, Fisichella, etc. Even Valentino Rossi started in karts.

 

There could be some drivers who started some where else but there's no question that karting is the training ground for any young driver. Besides if you start racing at age 10 or younger where are you going to race other than karts.

As for women, IMO it's a combinantion of things. Sheer number of women drivers as some one already stated, interest in the sport, and the fact that autoracing is a boys club. Having been involved in autoracing at different levels, being around mechanics, male drivers and promoters is not the kind of environment most women enjoy.

On the other hand driving ability is just one factor to be successful at autoracing. Funding and marketing is also a big part of any series and while women drivers have enjoyed a lot of promotion and publicity with lesser results than other male drivers, I'm not so sure that an F1 top team (McLaren, Ferrari, and the like) would risk employing a woman driver unless of course she was a female version of KR or MS. Nevertheless Bernie's comments are still unfortunate.

Just one question.... why aren't men entering in rhythmic gymnastics or synchronized swimming at the olympics? Maybe be because they are not that interested (and allowed for that matter)

 

Well, he DID say (current), but let's throw out those with a racing pedigree and take a count, and you will see more of a tie to Karts than not.

 

cause they'd drive worse than Ide during "that time"

 

HaHa! I do remember. Ben Wright in 1995.

 

I think there are no women drivers in F1 because Flavio cannot be trusted to behave around them.

 

Flavio cant be trusted period

 

I've never seen her display anything in the realm of competitive F1-level talent, in spite of the ridiculous amount of cameras trained on her these days. She is the Anna Kournikova of auto racing, only a bit more talented. Still not enough though, maybe her future daughter could be competitive......