Lando Norris reveals two reasons for F1 not having a female driver, claims “it’s not like Football”

Lando Norris admitted that he has received several questions regarding the lack of female drivers in F1.

Lando Norris reveals two reasons for F1 not having a female driver, claims “it’s not like Football”

Lando Norris [L], Jamie Chadwick [R] (images via IMAGO)

Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport. Unfortunately, the sport has been dominated by men ever since it began in 1950. Only a handful of female drivers have ever participated in an F1 weekend with no women on the grid for decades. Now, Lando Norris has revealed the two potential reasons for the lack of female representation in the sport.

The Briton admitted that he has been asked on multiple occasions regarding the lack of women on the F1 grid. The 24-year-old claimed that it is extremely difficult for anyone to make it to the pinnacle of motorsport. Norris reckoned that perhaps the chances of a driver making it to Formula 1 was less than 0.000%.

There’s two points. One is for anyone to be in Formula 1, it’s probably like a 0.000% shot. I don’t know what the odds are but it’s extremely, extremely slim for anyone to get to Formula 1. There’s 20 spots.

Lando Norris said on the TODAY program

Lando Norris pointed out that there are a limited number of seats in F1. The McLaren driver mentioned that only 20 of the world’s best drivers can race at the pinnacle of motorsport every season. Norris compared this to Football wherein there are numerous clubs with squads having more than twenty people.

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It’s not like football where there’s 30 different teams and you can all become part of these teams. It’s just 20 drivers in the world and that’s it. There’s millions of people who are trying to get into it so for anyone to get there, it’s extremely difficult.

Lando Norris urges more girls and women to take part in motorsport

Moreover, the McLaren driver highlighted that there are very few women in junior categories of racing compared to men. The 24-year-old claimed that perhaps only ten girls join the racing world for every 100,000 boys. Subsequently, this makes things even more difficult for women to even get close to making it to F1.

The second point is just the amount of girls who are getting into motorsport is nowhere near the volume of guys. So then when you look at the chance of 100,000 guys and then maybe one gets into Formula 1 and for every 100,000 guys, it’s maybe like 10 girls.
F1 Academy drivers at the US GP weekend
F1 Academy drivers at the US GP weekend (Via IMAGO)

Lando Norris insisted that these were the odds that have prevented F1 from getting a female driver in the past few decades. The 24-year-old made it clear that there was no shortage of talent among female drivers. The Briton was convinced that things would change for the better if more girls and women started their motorsport journey. Although drivers such as Jamie Chadwick have shown promise in recent times.

Formula 1 is trying to encourage more women into the racing arena. F1 Academy is perhaps the biggest step in this direction. The all-female junior series has received positive feedback after its inaugural season. Fans and experts expect to see even better progress in 2024 when the 10 F1 teams have their own liveries on the F1 Academy cars.

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