“We need to do more to support these girls,” Lewis Hamilton asks for a clear pathway from the W series


“We need to do more to support these girls,” Lewis Hamilton asks for a clear pathway from the W series

Lewis Hamilton

Recently, Lewis Hamilton visited the W series paddock at its Hungary edition. The race itself was won by Alice Powell, who finally broke Jamie Chadwick’s streak of 5 consecutive wins to become the first driver to win a W series race since September of last year when she herself had won in Zandvoort.

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This year, and really, since its inception, the W series has been completely dominated by Jamie Chadwick, who has won every edition of the championship. The two who have come closest to her were Alice Powell last year, and Beitske Visser in 2019 when Chadwick won the inaugural edition by 10 points.

The W series offers female racing drivers to build experience beyond karting, but above this, their futures are rather hazy. The series awards the winner with 15 Super License points, compared to the 40 offered by Formula 2 and the 30 offered by Formula 3. The series is currently in its nascent stages, and it will certainly improve even further, but Lewis Hamilton feels that more could be done to have more women in Motorsport.

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Lewis Hamilton: There’s no progression from the W Series

Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton

As reported by Planet F1, Lewis Hamilton explained the purpose of his visit to the W series by saying: “I’ve been following the W Series all year and for the last few years. I’ve wanted to go down there because I wanted to meet the young, inspirational women there. I’ve been watching the races between sessions and I wanted to go down there and for them.”

He said that the W series by itself is not enough to increase the inclusion of women into the sport: “I feel it’s great we have W Series, but we as a sport need to do way more for young girls getting into the sport.”

He further added: “For these women, there’s no progression from the W Series. It’s been three years and we need to really work on trying to create…when you win that, do you progress into GP2 (F2) get a seat in [F2] or whatever it may be?”

“We can definitely do a lot more to support those girls.” and upon being asked if he has ‘put his views forward’ on the matter, Hamilton replied: “I will.”

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Jamie Chadwick is certainly the outright star of the W series, currently leading the championship by 75 points to second-placed Alice Powell. She has raced before in the Formula 3 Asian Championship, where she finished 4th in 2019-20, behind Joey Alders, Jack Doohan and Nikita Mazepin. She is quite comfortably the best candidate in the W series for a Formula 2 seat.

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