Ahead of the first race in the new all-female W Series championship on 4 May, Jamie Chadwick, first female to win the British GT Championship, talks to Autocar about what the series means to her, and why it's a better idea than its most vocal critics suggest.
You have the highest profile of any driver in W Series, so is it fair to say you have the most to lose?
“You could look at it like that, but I could also have the most to gain. When I was looking at my options for this year, naturally a racing driver’s budget comes into it. I looked at what was possible. It certainly didn’t look like the new [Formula 1-supporting] FIA Formula 3 series was an option because the budget for that was out the window. We’re talking €800,000 to €1 million, and there aren’t many seats.”
So why did W Series appeal?
“I’ll be quite open, initially the idea of racing just women wasn’t necessarily of interest. But the opportunity that the W Series provides is far greater than anything else on the table. It’s a funded series, which makes a huge difference, but it’s also top F3 cars on great circuits and obviously it pays prize money at the end of the year. The support you get as a package, I don’t think I could turn it down when I looked at it like that.
The prize fund – US$500,000 for the champion from a total of $1.5 million – is something rare in motorsport today, isn’t it?
Above and beyond that, the fact that the series is funded was another incentive. I don’t want to keep dragging it back to money, because it isn’t all about that, but naturally in this sport it’s a big percentage of it. The prize fund makes a big difference too, but my incentive to do as well as possible goes beyond that. In terms of F1, the prize fund would only get you so far, whereas it’s the support and profile the W Series can offer that makes the difference.”
What were your initial thoughts when you heard about W Series?
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Show me the money.....
That the key to success in any sport these days, if you haven’t the backing, the sponsorship then it isn’t going to happen, and that I’m afraid is wear Women’s sports are just now, there not seen as interesting enough to make money from, we’re only just getting Women’s Football now because the Women’s team are doing well, better than the men’s ranking wise, in motorsport it’s money, no matter how good you are or who is supporting it, helping to set it up, if every driver doesn’t have sponsorship, then the sport is goin* nowhere, sorry, but that’s the way I see it........
Peter Cavellini wrote: