EKN had a post about that a while ago. It basically boiled down to "if you take all the karting drivers in the world, and figure 10% of them have the money to get to F1, and 10% of them are capable enough as a driver to get to F1, that only 1% of all drivers, regardless of gender, that have a chance of getting there. If female participation in the sport is at 25%, that’s a .25% chance that a woman can get to F1. The numbers just simply are not in their odds.
Unacceptable social conditioning. Let’s all go get mani-peddies and recruit some women to race.
So you were a gymnast? Have you considered motor racing? It’s basically the same thing!
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Exactly.
I think we’d have to be incredibly lucky to happen upon an F1 level driver, let alone a championship winning level. It’ll happen eventually, in the same way Hamilton popped up as the first successful black F1 driver.
There’s definitely more girl drivers now, when I was a kid I knew maybe 5. I’m sure there were more. 2 of those have had careers (Pippa and Susie). Now, I think there’s 5 in just the LO206 Jnr 2 class and I think the Kid Kart class has more girls then boys. So it happening but I think its organic and generally following (some) societies efforts to create gender equity, rather then any sports organizations efforts to force the issue.
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This conversation reminds me of this advert:
I really don’t think fan’s care in F1, but they certainly do in football (soccer).
I’m having a whoosh moment, alas.
The French are pretty excitable when it comes to sports.
Um, no… not unless they were a mental gymnast. 
I was selling the idea not the reality. I do think that gymnasts would make fine racers tho: fearless, light/small, a bit nuts.
A fundamental principal is that stewards do not take the consequences of an incident into account when determining a penalty. Penalties punish the action, not the result.
For my two penneth, I think the women’s series is a good thing. The underlying reason for there not being many women in Motorsport, in my opinion, comes down to our rearing of boys vs girls. What do we as society gift our children with? For boys it’s model racing cars. For girls it’s dolls and prams. Boys are naturally going to gravitate towards cars and racing. If F1 academy helps to highlight to young girls that they too can be interested in cars and racing, and give them such role models in the spotlight then maybe more will want to get in a kart at an early age. How many parents do you see taking their daughter of 5 years old to a kart track? Hardly any. This is where F1 academy is trying to change perceptions.
Just my opinion.
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The anomaly is drag racing. Lots of fast females at top of their classes in drag racing.
I’m speaking in generalities. Why are there relatively high numbers of successful females in drag racing verses other forms of motorsports? I believe that women, in general, have very little desire to be aggressive to others. Maybe it’s their nurturing instinct. In wheel to wheel racing, there is, at minimum, a subtle amount of aggression applied to your fellow competitors, let’s say we are not being polite even to friends. Whereas with drag racing, its almost solely up to the driver and car that determines the outcome. If you are fast off the line and the cars are the same, you win.
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Binotto to Alpine
20 char
It’s a game of musical chairs. Binotto is sooo ferarri
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Funnily enough, distance running is one of the sports where men and women are the closest to equal. Men’s marathon record is 2:01 and women’s is 2:14
I 100% agree. The F1 Academy isn’t about getting one particular woman into f1, it’s about showing kids that motorsports isn’t just for guys. In the end, I think this strategy has a much higher chance of getting a woman in F1 than trying to find the fastest woman and promoting her.
Seconding the drag racing thing, when I raced soap box derby, most of the people winning at the championship were girls. In fact, the most dominant person of my time was a girl.
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I would like to add that TIME is as big an issue as any other as why there aren’t as many women in F1.
It’s really only been in the last 10 - 15 years that there has been a push to get more women in the sport.
We have at least that long to get a Kid through junior ranks into F1, so even if a girl had decided at that moment 15 years ago they wanted to get into F1, we are only just starting to see that person come through now.
I feel like there is quite a few women in junior ranks of the sport at the moment and through the next 10 years we might start to see an increase.
I have mixed feelings (as a father of 2 daughters who are racing) about women only series at any level, but at least someone is trying something, so encourage it and if that is the spark that allows anyone to compete then lets do it.
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Just Max doing Max things…
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Just to put this out there. When it comes to sex biased sports, men have always dominated women. Look at the World Cup, Men far exceed the viewership than women. Hence the difference in pay. Still, Women get a higher percentage of the proceeds than Men do. The paycheck is still far bigger for the men.
That said, I think the reason this exists in Motorsport is not because Men are faster the Women, but because Men have dominated the sport until now. More and more women are entering Motorsports, but like everything it takes time for them to rise through the ranks to achieve Elite Status.
Even at my local kart club, I see more and more females competing. These are Kids, Juniors, Seniors and even Masters (weight wise) competing. Like everybody else, they are not all going to make it to the Pros, but maybe just maybe a few will rise above the rest and have a chance to prove themselves. With more Females entering the sport it is going to take time before we see anyone of consequence get far enough to be noticed. When they do, like Danica, Ashley, Pippa and Susie it won’t be about what they overcame. Instead it will be about what they did, just like every other Pro Driver on the Circuit. Outside of a colorful piece about a driver’s background, how much do people really care if you are not winning!?!
To be truthful, I am a father of a daughter. I don’t care what she choses to do, but I do care that whatever it is will not be influenced by whether its dominated by males or not. You do you and let the rest of them worry about the consequences. Stay true to your dreams!!!
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https://fb.watch/mrhfMpqKuw/
Alonso, the master of having all the pertinent info on the race. This is what I mean when I talk about gathering information while you’re out on the track.
It’s nice to see him actively trying to dispel the reputation he has as a cutthroat teammate now as well. Likely because he knows Lance is no threat, so he’s happy to share things with him, as he knows Lance won’t beat him anyway. Plus it puts him in the good graces of Lawrence to say nice things about his son. Fernando always playing 4D chess.
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Ok so a thought I had this am…
Doesn’t f1 represent all the stuff we dislike about racing, deliberately packaged by Liberty for max clicks/engagement?
It’s deliberately elitist
It’s not really a race in the traditional sense being a constructor championship (debatable). The field is expected to divide into 3 packs of competitiveness based upon development budget.
It’s hugely expensive, to the point of fantasy. Both for teams and spectators/fans.
It’s more about the “event” and the show than the race.
Now, some will say that this is all excellent, and that is all WAI. It is. But, is it racing or entertainment? And, if it’s the latter, does it matter in any way to anyone?
It’s more entertainment now than it used to be. But it’s still racing.
The field being separated into 3 packs isn’t by design, just the nature of huge budgets and insanely complex engineering projects.
I think if you’re realistic and take it for what it is, it is great. If you’re willing to accept that it’s snooty and wealthy and that not every race will be that exciting, and just accept it for what it is, then I find it enjoyable.
The beauty is that it isn’t the only racing in the world. I like to watch F1 in the morning and then the IndyCar race in the afternoon, so I get a little bit of everything.