I must admit that this girl show some... ah courage and sounds pretty intelligent too.For any german speaking or maybe google translator users, here is Sophia Flörsch opinion on the W Series:
https://www.spiegel.de/sport/sonst/...sch-kritisiert-w-series-scharf-a-1281895.html
Racing driver Sophia Flörsch sees in the all-female W race series a further derogatory assessment of the female drivers by the organizers.
"Unfortunately, they simply give the arguments to many voices in the men's world of motorsport, in which women are rated as not as capable as men,"
said the 18-year-old German to the "Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung".
Flörsch drives for the Dutch racing team van Amersfoort in the Fia Formula Regional European Championship, which is open to both women and men.
"The truth comes to the table when the participants have to prove themselves against the best in their sport, because this is the reality," she argued.
For real?
The audience for this is objectively bigger than for Formula E. You do know how many women there are in this world compared to the ecolobobo-brigade right?
Hmm, I want the same, but I'm not sure how optimistic to be: 40 is actually a smaller group than they had going into the selection process for year 1. (Total of 61 applications, with 7 withdrawals before the process began.)This is good to hear, hopefully this'll mean more drivers at the front.
Agreed. BUT remember how things go - example: when a Dutch driver starts winning races in F1, a hell of a lot more Dutch people start attending races and buying F1 content.wait what? why are you assuming most of the women on the planet give a damn about motorsports, out of all the women I know (wife, mother, mother in law, sisters in law, Aunts, Nieces) hardly any of them care about motorsport. The audience amongst women is a LOT smaller than people think.
Yeah, excellent questions. I have no clue!But do Dutch people who don't care about F1 start taking an interest in F1? Are new fans created? Or are existing fans just more energised and proactive?
The way I've looked at it is that if someone from this series gets a chance in F1 and does well then it encourages more women interested in motorsports to try. In the worst case scenario where someone gets there and is terrible then there's going to be at least some people that look at her and think "I could do better" and maybe that will be what brings someone with the skill needed into the picture.Presumably the view is (rightly or wrongly) that the motorsport market will get bigger if women are successful in it.
I think Paul title for this article 'cements' the basis for this series.
"40 Drivers Express Interest in Season 2"
That ...to me anyway, suggest added interest through the exposure brought about by Season 1.
Racing at the professional level is a 'cut-throat', results-based business.
The W-series aims to allow young girls to develop into full fledged racers, without guys coming in and taking over everything.
Good for them, if over time they produce and promote girls into other series.
I have absolutely 'zero' problems with that.
Then again...I'm a secure guy.
My ego doesn't get bruised very easily.
Agreed. BUT remember how things go - example: when a Dutch driver starts winning races in F1, a hell of a lot more Dutch people start attending races and buying F1 content.
Presumably the view is (rightly or wrongly) that the motorsport market will get bigger if women are successful in it.
But do Dutch people who don't care about F1 start taking an interest in F1? Are new fans created? Or are existing fans just more energised and proactive?
But do Dutch people who don't care about F1 start taking an interest in F1? Are new fans created? Or are existing fans just more energised and proactive?
wait what? why are you assuming most of the women on the planet give a damn about motorsports, out of all the women I know (wife, mother, mother in law, sisters in law, Aunts, Nieces) hardly any of them care about motorsport. The audience amongst women is a LOT smaller than people think.
Compared to the amount of pro-electric/eco group, the amount of women in the world is a lot bigger. I just worded it pretty badly in english, so the point got lost.
From personal experience, a lot of the current fans are not into racing, but are drawn into the hype that’s created by the media and the sponsors who make sure they generate as much exposure as possible.
My brother in law - early 50-ies - literally told me he did not care for F1 at all, just Max Verstappen. As he was watching a race he was actually pretty fanatic, but to me that’s like the antithesis of loving a sport for the sport. Of course this is not limited to the dutch liking Max Verstappen, but is repeated again and again - Ayrton Sennas, Boris Beckers, Lance Armstrongs etc just name your big national sports star that attracts huge interest from the mainstream.
The dutch ladies soccer team was doing well so they received more media attention. The more exposure they got, the more popular women’s football became in the mainstream and the more hype was generated. To me that is fake enthusiasm, or at least just a passing interest until the next fad.
Back to the topic, if there is no Max, there will be no mainstream dutch interest in F1, but for the time being attention is riding high, with Zandvoort being on the calendar and business standing in line (although maintaining Zandvoort will be a challenge on the long run).
Of course there are real fans, but they remain a minority. Ironically the one true fan I know cannot even get a reservation for a ticket to the first GP of Zandvoort. That’s a guy who has been following Verstappen since early days and spends a lot of his free time at Spa or Zandvoort.