If there will be a woman in Formula 1 soon, it's this woman: Who is Jamie Chadwick?
For many years, you may not have given much thought to being a woman in motorsport. Maybe you think it doesn't matter. But we are all aware of the truth, that's not exactly how it works.
In this sport, some things are different for men and different for women. But I don't think differences will prevent women from being successful in this sport.
Jamie Chadwick is a woman involved in motorsport. She thinks it's important to identify as a "female pilot." Because she doesn't want to be perceived as just another one of the men in this sport.
Growing up, she was always in male-dominated environments. There were four female students in total at her school. Naturally, they did what men did.
Jamie Laura Chadwick (born 20 May 1998) is a British racing driver who races for Andretti Global in Indy NXT. She won the inaugural W Series season in 2019, before retaining her title in 2021 and 2022. She holds the records for the most wins, podiums, pole positions and points in the W Series. She has also competed in the Race of Champions for Great Britain alongside David Coulthard, as well as racing in Extreme E. She is a development driver for the Williams Formula One team. For the 2024 season, Chadwick became a Williams Racing Driver, and the F1 Academy Advisor for fellow Williams driver Lia Block.
She didn't realize it at the time, but; Don't you find it a little strange that she is the only girl playing football with 100 men on the field?
She looked like an ordinary boy. She did whatever her older brother Ollie did. If he was playing football in the garden, Jamie was also playing football in the garden. If he wanted to play with cars, Jamie wanted to play with cars. Of course, when Ollie started karting on Sundays at the local racetrack in Castle Combe, Jamie would follow suit.
On the day of her first race, she was so nervous that she couldn't eat anything. Imagine, she was 11-12 years old and wearing Ollie's old ones.
Previously, she had only driven her father's old model Peugeot 107. She had tried it in the meadow in front of their house when they lived on the Isle of Man. All she did was sit on my father's lap, turn the steering wheel, and try not to hit anything.
A few years later, she grew tall enough to reach the pedals. Her father was pressing the clutch with a cane from the side seat, and Jamie was pressing the gas and brake.
She was driving very slowly at first. After first gear, second gear, and third gear, she fell back to second gear again.
As soon as she stepped onto the track at Castle Combe, she felt like she belonged in the racing world.
She had caught the poison.
Motorsport is very physically demanding, contrary to what most people think. It is quite difficult to respond to this demand without sufficient support and opportunities.
Moreover, no matter what size car you look at, starting from Formula 1 and down to the lower series, you will see that it is designed for the average man. This applies to every part of the vehicle, from the width of the cockpit to the size of the pedals.
She is already 1.60 tall and has small feet, so she has to adapt to the vehicle and compensate for this disadvantage with other things.
As a woman, she often has to work around these issues rather than voice them.
In 2019, the W Series, a single-seater racing series with an all-female grid, started. At first, everyone suffered from the same problem. All of the racing overalls they bought from Puma had loose arms and legs but were very tight at the hips.
They all sent back their racing overalls to be changed. Thus, Puma became the first manufacturer to produce racing overalls for women.
As these small changes took place, she started to feel comfortable and belonging there while doing the sport.
That's why the W Series was so important.
When it was announced that F1 was planning an all-female support series, she initially did not like the idea.
She had already achieved success in the men's and women's mixed series. She has won races against men in F3 and other series, why should she race in a separate series now?
But a few people convinced Jamie that this would be the right move. When she talked to other female pilots, she realized that this was a great opportunity for women.
This was an organization with money issues resolved.
If you don't know, let me tell you this: A career in motorsports is very expensive. And it is so costly that it pushes the limits of the mind. You need someone to support you. Someone who will actually support you.
The W Series has professionalized single-seater racing for women. It provided visibility and a stage reserved for women. This is a wonderful thing.
Jamie won the W Series in 2019 and 2021. This success took her career to another point. If it wasn't for the W Series she probably wouldn't be racing today.
When she started to excel in karting, she was constantly asked about her goal and she always said “Formula 1”.
That's what she said because that was the pinnacle of this business.
But after racing in F3, and W Series and being a development driver for Williams, this goal now looks much more realistic.
Of course, she is not naive, she is aware that reaching Formula 1 is a difficult goal, but she believes in herself.