Bernie Ecclestone keen to explore the idea of grands prix for female drivers

[Rob]

HEY!!! Great Idea Bernie. Maybe we could have a separate race for Asians and call it the "Separate But Equal Race of Never Going to Make It To F1 Champions"!!

Freaking idiot. Just stick with the cars Bernie. You are too old to come up with ideas banned when you were 25. Fact is, women will someday make better race drivers than men once they catch up as toddlers and have the proper strength. Have you ever seen the male F1 drivers? They are tiny. And women have better reaction times.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/mar/29/bernie-ecclestone-grand-prix-women

 

[Ho3n3r]

First idea of his in a long time that I actually like. Was wondering the other day why this hasn't happened already.

 

[Philip Heck]

Agree, that could give some of the female drivers some much needed attention so they might just make it to F1.

Not sure about the details, though but the idea behind that sounds reasonable enough.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

I have 3 problems with this idea:

1. It's sexist. It's basically preventing women from ever competing with men in F1. Whilst statistically speaking, only Susie Wolff is good enough to compete at present, it's making it so any women that come through in the future are segregated.

2. There are no female racing drivers that currently qualify for a super license under the new restrictions. Susie Wolff scrapes in under the old rules.
So does this mean that we have to wait until a grid full of successful females come through the junior categories before we get this new series? Could be a very long wait.

3. Financially, Fornula 1 is barely holding itself together. Where will the money come from for a second grid of F1 cars?

Another pie in the sky idea that'll never happen

 

[Philip Heck]

1. It's sexist. It's basically preventing women from ever competing with men in F1. Whilst statistically speaking, only Susie Wolff is good enough to compete at present, it's making it so any women that come through in the future are segregated.

Wait what?
It would basically be the only thing that might enable them to get into F1 in the first place.
Also, if you are so keen on waving the sexist stick: Yes it would be sexist, but actually the other way round... No men allowed.

 

[Tony Holder]

So men and woman aren't equal in this modern age we live in - apparently not.

 

[vee10]

Bernie's proposal for the race suit the female drivers have to wear might not be much good in a crash.

 

[vee10]

In all seriousness I think it's actually a good idea. Takes away a lot of the issues and stigma's other female driver's have had to endure in motor racing. For some reason as well they always end up doing photo shoot's which I don't think really helps the image of female driver's. A lot of other sports are sex segregated why not motor racing.

 

[Ho3n3r]

So men and woman aren't equal in this modern age we live in - apparently not.

Obviously not. That's why you have men's and women's events in athletics. The differences are obvious.

I have 3 problems with this idea:

1. It's sexist. It's basically preventing women from ever competing with men in F1. Whilst statistically speaking, only Susie Wolff is good enough to compete at present, it's making it so any women that come through in the future are segregated.

2. There are no female racing drivers that currently qualify for a super license under the new restrictions. Susie Wolff scrapes in under the old rules.
So does this mean that we have to wait until a grid full of successful females come through the junior categories before we get this new series? Could be a very long wait.

3. Financially, Fornula 1 is barely holding itself together. Where will the money come from for a second grid of F1 cars?

Another pie in the sky idea that'll never happen

1. It won't prevent them from getting to the normal F1 grid. Look in Golf, the LPGA is only for women, but some women have occasionally competed in men's events. It doesn't preclude them from competing in the full-on F1 series.

2. Why does the superlicense rules have to be the same for female F1? There aren't as many female drivers around, so it will have to be a lot more lenient for the female F1 series.

3. Is a good point. But it opens up a whole new market of advertising as well. So many female-exclusive products that can be advertised.

 

[Tony Holder]

Obviously not. That's why you have men's and women's events in athletics. The differences are obvious.
.

You see, I understand that. But surely woman can compete with men in an F1 car?

 

[Ho3n3r]

You see, I understand that. But surely woman can compete with men in an F1 car?

It's a physically demanding sport, so probably not. Obviously there could be some exceptionally physically talented female athletes (e.g. Venus Williams) that can probably be as close to a male physiologically as possible, and they could indeed make it into F1, but on average it isn't the case.

 

[vee10]

The physical aspect is a difficult one as someone like Michèle Mouton won 4 rally's in various cars including a Audi Quattro which I cannot imagine was not physically demanding.

Michèle Mouton back in the day and now is not exactly a muscle bound freak but it must have taken some physical ability to drive those cars.

 

[Tony Holder]

It'll be a step backwards, F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and should be open to both sexes.

 

[Darth]

I have an idea, there should be a grand prix for kids as well.

 

[Alberto Casado]

It's a physically demanding sport, so probably not. Obviously there could be some exceptionally physically talented female athletes (e.g. Venus Williams) that can probably be as close to a male physiologically as possible, and they could indeed make it into F1, but on average it isn't the case.

I might agree that the chances of finding a woman that is both a good driver and also as strong as, say, Maldonado (he seems the beefier of the grid, maybe I'm wrong) is slim.

But on the current F1 grid there is also a 17 year old (Verstappen), a french that looks like could snap with too much wind (Grosjean) and (joking) a clone of Barbie. So I don't think to be a driver you need to be specially masculine.

 

[Tony Holder]

What about Transgender F1 racing?

 

[ENDR]

I say: let ANYTHING race, as long as IT is quick enough.
Problem solved...
...
... right?

 

[Thomas Mundy]

It'll be a step backwards, F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and should be open to both sexes.

I agree with this. In terms of driving F1 cars I don't see how women who are fast enough shouldn't be able to compete competitively in the main F1 series so there is no reason for a separate series in my view. Women could cope with the physical demands in F1 fine, I have no doubt about that.

 

[P*Funk]

Why not just direct money into promoting the development of female drivers through the existing lower tiers of motorsport that lead to F1? Its not like the solution to getting women to go to university when they were all stay at homes was to make special universities for women. You just direct money at developing them in particular. Its called a special interest group. They have them for everything.

Thing is it will take a long time to get a grid of women able to drive at an F1 level if there aren't enough developed in the existing paradigm. To have a female F1 you'd need the same feeder systems that male F1 has.

Still, who cares about the physical differences. How many F1 drivers are there compared to the entire human population? You're telling me that of all the women in the world there aren't a freak combination of talent and physical capability that can drive those cars in that gender? Fine, maybe, MAYBE the physical thing, if its even true since I can't tell you how much the basic demand is beyond typical female capability is, its not like its the special forces where its about carrying 80 pounds on your back. Still statistically you're not gonna have problems finding women who can do it. The biggest issue is tapping the pool of women for those capabilities in a culture that simply doesn't draw them or generate personalities interested in them even if a given % of that population has those innate capabilities.

If for every 10 F1 capable men in existence there could only be 1 female thats still enough to get women into the series. Existing lower tiers are just fine for filtering them up the ladder. By wanting a whole separate grid for them though you put the pressure to have that grid and so you make it hard to use the limited talent pool that may already exist or could be developed in a relatively short period.

 

[Philip Heck]

Then a female driver that is worse than a male one will get picked because it brings money for the team... yeah great idea.