The Best Motorsport You Know Nothing About!

-Ricardo Arena

As W series starts its record-breaking 3rd season, Jamie Chadwick is the current 2-time champion looking to further extend her domination on the series. While you might have already heard about her, it is unlikely you know where you have heard the name from. Despite her prominence in the public eye with the Lewis Hamilton like domination she has had on the series and her association with the Williams F1 team it is unlikely that you know much more about the Series itself.

Although it has coequally been referred to as the female only version of F1 it isn’t a simple copycat. W series is instead a feeder series into F1 with same spec cars for the whole field making the racing far closer than it is in the top echelon of Motorsport. Additionally, unlike F1 there is no financial barrier to entry as W series has eliminated the need for its competitors to pay an entry fee which has increased the opportunities for women to display their talent without being limited by a lack of financial support that often affects them more than their male counterparts. While removing the financial barrier takes away one of the larger hurdles of motorsport, getting into the W series is no easy feat as it is an invite only series. The removal of an entry fee with the invite only nature of the series means that only the best of female racing talent looking to make a strong name for themselves in the world of motorsport even gets considered for an entry.

Looking onto why the series is more competitive than F1 we find that one of the main reasons is the cars. With the cars being identical, the talent of the engineers and the drivers are really on display. In another bid to increase competitiveness engineers are on rotation and will be assigned to a different driver every event. This rotation limits the influence an engineer can have on a driver’s results by the end of the season meaning that only the truly best driver in the series will be crowned a champion.

This record braking year will take place all over the world with 8 different events where 2 of them will host 2 races. The first event has come and gone in Miami alongside F1’s race at the track as we now move onto the second event of the season in Barcelona. So with the first event in the books lets have a look at this year’s potential standouts.

Obviously, there is nowhere better to start than with the defending champion Jamie Chadwick. With her now being a veteran in the series as it is her 3rd year in the sport, she will be looking to not only win the championship for a dominating 3rdtime in a row but to also impress and secure another seat for her future. Chadwick has made it very clear that her intentions are to get to F1 within the next 2 to 3 years. To match her ambition, she is hoping that by winning the championship once again and through support from the Williams driver academy, she will be able to secure a drive on next years F2 grid before gradating to F1. Amongst her supporters there is no bigger fan than her team boss Caitlyn Jenner, who, despite being a newcomer to the series, has plenty of experience in motorsport. Jenner, now runner her own team Jenner Racing, believes firmly that the first female F1 driver the sport has seen in 46 years will come from W series and that it will be Chadwick.

Looking to cement her own legacy and forge a path to F1 is last year’s main title challenger Alice Powell. This year Powell is looking to build on her impressive showing last year and dethrone Chadwick. On a mission to attain F1 as well, the initial step to break Chadwick’s domination will be a difficult one, however many people believe she is the one to do it.

The final title contender is Emma Kimilainen. The Finnish driver will be looking to use the experience she gained last year and translate it into a strong fight for the championship. Finishing 3rd in the championship last year, Kimilainen demonstrated massive talent with multiple podiums and capping her performance off with a race win in Spa-Francorchamps.

The last standout driver is this year’s youngest driver and most publicized rookie Juju Noda. At the age of 12 and 13, Juju won the F4 and F3 class races, gaining her international attention from these achievements as she has now progressed to the W series at the age of 16. She will no doubt be looking to continue the hype surrounding her by putting it some strong performances. Despite not being a title contender, as she is a rookie, having a strong rookie season will set her up for a strong championship challenge next year.

Although it is unlikely that Kimilainen will make it to F1, I do believe she has the talent necessary to dominate the series and win the championship this year which makes her my pick for the 2022 driver’s championship. Hopefully Chadwick can put on a strong performance throughout the year and perhaps even make me wrong about my championship predictions as I look forward to seeing her in an F2 seat next year.

Looking back at the performance of all of these drivers during the Miami weekend we can see some impressive drives as well as some disappointing performances. Out the gate it was a strong performance for Powell as she toped the time sheets in practice while reigning champion Jamie Chadwick fell into P3 with a near 2 tenth gap to rival Powell. Sadly, however this pace did not maintain itself for Alice Powell come qualifying as she dropped to 3rd ahead of Emma Kimilainen in 4th with Chadwick moving up into 2nd place only to be outdone by Nerea Marti who took her first pole position in the W series ahead of Saturday’s race.

Despite looking to take a commanding lead in the championship, it was heartbreak for pole starter Nerea Marti as she stalled on the grid which caused her to have to fight back up the pack and secure a no doubt disappointing 6th place. This disappointment was shared with Powell as she was equally hampered at the start causing her to fall back before putting the car into the wall and failing to finish the race as she pushed too hard while trying to regain positions. For Kimilainen and Chadwick however the issues for their competitors gave them a strong start as they moved into the top two positions and began pulling away from the pack. Through strong pressure, Kimilainen was able to pull a brilliant move to take the lead seconds before a safety car was called. With time winding down, the safety car ended with only 1 lap remaining but a poor restart for Kimilainen meant that she was on the back foot into turn one and was passed by Chadwick and Marta Garcia. In an attempt to recover second place, Kimilainen made a move on Garcia which ended in disaster sending Kimilainen into last place despite leading at the start of the final lap and granted Chadwick a clear victory at the first race of the season.

In race two we saw Chadwick starting in front ahead of Powell, Marti, Garcia and Kimilainen which allowed her to pull away slightly as early overtakes by Kimilainen and Marti now saw them fighting for P2. In the closing stages of the race the top 2 managed to pull away from the pack which left Kimilainen fighting with Powell for the final podium position. In similar fashion to events the day prior, the strong battle ended in contact which saw Kimilainen facing the wrong direction and finishing down in 5th as Powell limped to the finish line with a broke front wing to secure the final spot on the podium. Ahead of them however, Marti came home to secure a podium with a P2 finish while all eyes were focussed on Jamie Chadwick’s strong season opener as she made it back-to-back race victories in Miami.

W seires’ season opener in Miami brought with all the excitement that was promised and that will be on full display during the rest of the season demonstrating why it is a strongly underrated championship to watch. What was made clear is that Jamie Chadwick sent a strong message to her competitors that she is clearly looking for more championship glory and that she will be performing on another level this season. Will she be able to keep up this pace throughout the season? Will her rivals rise to the challenge only time will tell so tune into the next race in Barcelona on May 21st to find out!

Despite all the positive publicity surrounding the series, it has not been shy of receiving some criticism. One of the main issues with W series is that drivers currently receive less Super Licence points than male drivers in other equal level championships.Since these points are necessary for F1 and expire after 3 years, the gap between the points awarded places a further hurdle for women to reach F1. The point gap is a substantial hurdle as it makes it nearly impossible to get enough Super Liscence points for F1 without competing in another series unless you finish in the top two championship positions 3 years in a row. Sadly, this gap put in place by the FIA undoes a lot of the W series mission. While W series removes the high finicial burden that all drivers face, but that affects female drivers often more unjustly, by removing the entry fee and giving the champion $500 000 to help fund future racing the FIA imposed point gap strongly brings back another unjust barrier.

Any questions? Let us know below so you can get up to speed on this series