Women in F1!

Vicki · 26 Jun 2004, 19:37 (Ref:1016900)

Why are women never in F1 cars? We have all the same skills as men, so please explain. Also can I be a marshall or flaggie with eyesight which may stop me driving as an adult? I love cars and motorsport and would love an oppertunity to work within it.

Kicking-back · 26 Jun 2004, 19:41 (Ref:1016907)

There have been women in F1.

However, the number of women racing drivers generally is very small.

Only a minute elite of male drivers get to the top, so it's a simple question of maths that fewer women will.

As for the marshal question, there are lots of people in the marshals forum at ten-tenths who could give you solid advice.

GP Racer · 26 Jun 2004, 22:19 (Ref:1017016)

At the risk of sounding like a chauvanist, I agree that women may have the same skills as men to drive race cars, but I don't think there are to many that have the aggressiveness it takes to win in race cars.

I think it has something to do with that testosterone thing.

I have seen a fair number of female track workers though, so that is a definete possibility. There are plenty of different jobs to do at a track, so I'm sure they could find something for you even with your eyesight problem.

Knowlesy · 26 Jun 2004, 22:46 (Ref:1017025)

I don't really think a lady would have the necessary physical strength to drive an F1 car on the limit for an hour and a half every other Sunday.

They can certainly be agressive enouh GP Racer...as evidenced by the ones that drive round my local supermarket car park at the weekends!

Sato san · 27 Jun 2004, 05:15 (Ref:1017165)

Quote:

Originally posted by knowlesy

They can certainly be agressive enouh GP Racer...as evidenced by the ones that drive round my local supermarket car park at the weekends!

youve done it now Knowlesy !.....come on girls ...who wants to queue up to give Knowlesy a slap !

What ever happened to Sarah Kavanhah ?....she looked liked she was getting close to some sort of Jordan test deal a few years back ?....i think she done a few F3000 races as well out in Japan .

oziengineer · 27 Jun 2004, 05:26 (Ref:1017170)

Women should be in F1, they are in most other racing series, some of them do very well. Look at Sarah Fisher in IRL.

Vicki · 27 Jun 2004, 08:41 (Ref:1017252)

I myself think we need a women's F1 championship, at least until we find female drivers who are willing to beat the men at their own game. Hmmmm, maybe a petition to the FIA is in order! Anyone interested? :-)

Rob29 · 27 Jun 2004, 09:58 (Ref:1017279)

Plenty of women able to beat men.Problem is sponsors are not getting the message.There were more women racing at top levels in the sport in the 1930s. As to idiots who think it is a physical thing,I was just watching two disabled men who are able to compete in ETCC.

Vicki · 27 Jun 2004, 10:03 (Ref:1017282)

Seriously, if my sight improves enough for me to get a licence, I will get a Superlicense and try and beat the men. On this F1 arcade thing in France on a school trip, all the boys were saying they were better than girls. Then this French girl came second on medium difficulty. I had a go on easy and got 6th, and all the boys thought I would be last. So HAHAHAHA!

BSchneiderFan · 27 Jun 2004, 11:19 (Ref:1017338)

Quote:

Originally posted by GP Racer
At the risk of sounding like a chauvanist, I agree that women may have the same skills as men to drive race cars, but I don't think there are to many that have the aggressiveness it takes to win in race cars.

Hogwash. Women are perfectly capable in theory of competing in F1; physical differences probably mean that a smaller percentage of women than of men could do it, and the percentage of men is already pretty tiny, but it isn't impossible. Will we see a woman in F1 soon (and will she be better than Giovanna Amati)? Hard to say. There are no obvious candidates at the moment. But perhaps in the future. I'd be all for it.

Knowlesy · 27 Jun 2004, 11:26 (Ref:1017348)

I find it more unusual that there are no black people in motorsport (or nearly none). In fact it's more than unusual, it's worrying.

Kicking-back · 27 Jun 2004, 11:59 (Ref:1017373)

The issue women drivers in F1 is purely that it takes so much skill to reach the top level, and the number of women in racing in general is so small, there is a much smaller statistical chance.

We need to get more women into the ground-roots of motorsport and that will help.

As for the top level, forget about Sarahs Kavanagh and Fisher - they are nowhere near good enough.

Vicki · 27 Jun 2004, 13:12 (Ref:1017451)

IMO we need a petition sending to the FIA to provide more events for women. I suppose most are worried about what the men think, so why not make these events women only and see how much of a response they get?

Hungary 89 · 27 Jun 2004, 13:21 (Ref:1017464)

I agree that it is a statistical issue althought I believe that part of the reason for the statistics is that Having a woman Who:-
A) has a big enough interest in motor racing
B) has the driving skill
C) Has the ability to achieve the physical strength required
D) Has the desire to achieve the physical strength required
E) Can attract the right sponsors

Is just not as likely to happen as it is for a man

I'm sure that there are many women out there with the interest or the skill or the strength or the desire but a women with all of those things is very rare and then she has to fight her way through a male dominated sport before she can get to the top.

Finally you can not equate the physical demands of ETCC and Formula 1 the only way an ETCC driver will experience the sort of G loading routinely experienced by an F1 driver during cornering is if he crashes

ASCII Man · 27 Jun 2004, 13:23 (Ref:1017466)

You can add:

F) starts at a young(ish) age.

BootsOntheSide · 27 Jun 2004, 13:35 (Ref:1017486)

Sarah Fisher hasn't done especially well in the IRL - she doesn't even have a drive this year, despite being the most marketable driver of all.

I don't think many women look at F1 and think 'hey, I can do that'. A lot of grass-roots racing championships have at least one token woman invovled, and she usually seems to do okay. I'm sure someone out there could be good enough, but it's a case of getting them to start racing and stick at it.

300kph · 27 Jun 2004, 13:46 (Ref:1017502)

The physical factor is the problem of women in F1...that's nature as they were born with one less rib...

Vicki · 27 Jun 2004, 13:50 (Ref:1017511)

You don't need a driving licence to race go-karts do you? If not, then watch out karting championship cos this racer lady is gonna getcha!

Kicking-back · 27 Jun 2004, 14:19 (Ref:1017547)

Quote:

Originally posted by 300kph
The physical factor is the problem of women in F1...that's nature as they were born with one less rib...

Not actually true!

crozier74 · 27 Jun 2004, 21:17 (Ref:1018114)

Quote:

Originally posted by FerrariFanatic
You don't need a driving licence to race go-karts do you? If not, then watch out karting championship cos this racer lady is gonna getcha!

Not a road driving licence, but (like with cars), you have to have a specific karting race licence to compete (sit a driving test/theory exam. Head across to the karting forum here and we'll be glad to help

I've posted in a thread about this subject before. Will try and dig it up.

Women are just as physically able as men - Sarah Fisher can withstand 4G on an oval for 2 hours, so I doubt women would have problems coping with F1. And women (generally) are more suitably build for modern single-seaters, in that they're shorter and lighter.

The problem is simple, and has been mentioned already - there just aren't enough women competing, so the chance of one making it to F1 is significantly smaller. Dunno why the interest from women to compete isn't greater, but as someone mentioned earlier, I suppose when a woman-in-the-street watches motorsport on TV, they don't think "I can do that" as much as men do. Motorsport isn't the only one where there is a significant male domination - football for one - but why should it remain so?

P.S. Don't call them "go"-karts, you'll get beaten up!

crozier74 · 27 Jun 2004, 21:32 (Ref:1018129)

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...threadid=52149

Snrub · 27 Jun 2004, 21:35 (Ref:1018133)

I think it's an interest level issue. For instance where are all the male syncronized swimmers and baton twirlers? I'm sure some want to do it, but there aren't a lot.

In the US and Canada Soccer there are a higher number of females than males in leagues.

Last year I was talking to a guy who's in a Canadian racing series. He was saying that he stopped helping people learn to drive because there were too many idiots who just didn't get it. He said the only people he liked teaching were women because they actually listened and learned.

Snapple · 27 Jun 2004, 23:04 (Ref:1018212)

Quote:

Originally posted by knowlesy
I find it more unusual that there are no black people in motorsport (or nearly none). In fact it's more than unusual, it's worrying.

English driver Lewis Hamilton, I think McLaren have him under contract. He currently races in the UK Formula Renault championship.

baclightning · 28 Jun 2004, 06:17 (Ref:1018361)

Lella Lombardi raced F1 in the 1970s, and is still the only woman to score points (0.5 point, technically) in an F1 race, finishing sixth in the shortened 1975 Spanish GP.

She also raced in NASCAR, the only woman to do both F1 and NASCAR, and won two major sports car races in 1979. She died of cancer in 1992. A detailed bio can be found at:

http://8w.forix.com/lombardi.html

Kicking-back · 28 Jun 2004, 11:43 (Ref:1018650)

Quote:

Originally posted by Snapple
English driver Lewis Hamilton, I think McLaren have him under contract. He currently races in the UK Formula Renault championship.

Lewis won FRenault last season, he's now in the F3 Euroseries - and won at the Norisring this weekend.

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