W Series 2022

flazio

8 races on the F1 support ticket.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZO5Q2TtS2T/?utm_medium=copy_link

Apparently Jamie Chadwick has to move on, I think the rest of the top 8 are guaranteed a seat. There's testing going on at the moment with some development drivers.

quokula

Looks like Jamie Chadwick isn't moving on after all. Not a great success story for the series when the double champion fails to get a seat in Formula 3.

AMKC

Awe thats a pity. Would have been good to see.

flazio

W Series CEO defending Chadwicks right to return.

https://www.autosport.com/w-series/news/w-series-ceo-defends-chadwicks-surprise-return-to-the-series/8405752/

It's not a great outcome, let's be honest. You'd expect, especially with Super Licence points, to at least get a seat in F3. Jamie is a sim development driver with Williams yet has never had any sort of test in any real Williams of any age. Jessica Hawkins is in a similar role at Aston Martin.

Extreme E has a mandate that each team must consist of a male and female driver pairing. Perhaps one of the lower regional formulas should implement the rule on a trial basis, see how it goes.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118679930#Comment_118679930

Extreme E has a mandate that each team must consist of a male and female driver pairing. Perhaps one of the lower regional formulas should implement the rule on a trial basis, see how it goes.

Sounds like a great idea. I agree one of them should do it.

Frank Bullitt

Terrible shame she didn't get anything in F3, might serve as something that the FIA can work on maybe?

Larbre34

Nothing to be done unless these women bring serious hefty sponsorship with them for seats in F3 and up. And I don't mean social enterprises promoting hashtags or beauty products, we're talking 3 or 4 million dollars in personal sponsorship for F3. Banks, telecoms, energy suppliers, that sort of level.

AMKC

I wonder if any of these Woman will be affected by the Russian war in Ukraine. Was there any Russian drivers in it? I think I remember there being one or maybe I imagined it.

flazio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118723261#Comment_118723261

Irina Sidorkova. Incidentally she missed the season ending double header in Austin because her visa application got delayed.

Looking at her instagram, she is present in Barcelona for pre season testing but I haven't seen any pictures of her on track or even at the circuit. She might be getting told to hide in the hotel for now. But of course, for now, she won't be racing in Silverstone.

flazio

I'm planning to do a full preview of who's where going into Miami in a couple of weeks but for now live rights have moved from Channel 4 over to Sky (except British race)

https://twitter.com/WSeriesRacing/status/1518643502761988097?t=KnFFtkYQJxaTjdm1pciurg&s=19

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975798#Comment_118975798

Well that is really stupid. I thought Formula E was bad but this is even worse. They are never going to build up a following doing that.

I hope the Women drivers get something out of this like better pay maybe?

Absolutely crazy to go behind a paywall do.

Charlie-Bravo

Absolutely the wrong time to be putting this behind the paywall. It should be accessible to everyone if that's what they happen to be promoting!

AMKC

Would love to see W Series come to Mondello for a round. I would go watch them. What do you think the chances are of it happening?

sam t smith

Zero chance.

flazio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119002975#Comment_119002975

They are a support series to Formula 1 so unless F1 comes to Mondello, W Series won't be coming either.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119004137#Comment_119004137

Ye Mondello kind of missed that window alright. Maybe before W Series became a support race to F1 I suppose it could have happened but ye not now. A pity.

AMKC

First race Live on Sky Showcase on Saturday at 7:10pm.

Charlie-Bravo

I didn't even twig there was two races this weekend! Excellent. SO two qualys and two races before the main F1 one sessions.

Charlie-Bravo

Of course a red flag would ruin the climax at the end of W Series qualy for the races. Hope Fabienne is ok to race after a big head on hit with the wall.

Burkie1203

Red flag it ffs

AMKC

Hopefully this is a better start.

Charlie-Bravo

Excellent move by Kimilainen on Chadwick. I wasn't impressed by Chadwick's move across in the braking area (it's a bit dirty). Great racing so far.

Not impressed with how long it's taking to clear cars this weekend so far. Robbed a good ending there.

EDIT: Nice one, they go +1 lap after 0. Should be a fun lap.

Charlie-Bravo

Not the fun ending for Emma. There'll be penalties!

flazio

Why weren't the lapped cars allowed through? 😋

AMKC

Well done to Jamie Chawick hard look to Emna Kimilinen she was unlucky.

flazio

Well f*ck Sky for cutting away from the podium ceremony before it even started.

Infoanon

Sky couldn't cut away from the W series quick enough , not an encouraging sign.

The race itself was good for the few minutes that were not under yellows.

Doesn't bode well for the F1 race.

Harika

Biggest problem is that there is no path to f3 or gp2 after the series. Branch out the money for a competitive cockpit as prize money would make this series make sense. Now it's a dead end in a good position.

Charlie-Bravo

That's makes loads of sense. The W Series franchise need to have a buy into a race seat into a higher tier. Use that $0.5m prize money to get them moved up. Jamie has more than shown her worth. She's been very cool headed in the first two races.

quokula

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119033360#Comment_119033360

They'll get a drive in a higher tier series if a team or sponsor thinks they're good enough to be worth backing but so far that hasn't been the case, probably because they're looking at their performances holistically and not just in W Series. For example Chadwick has raced a couple of seasons in British formula 3 and was middle of the pack, and normally to move up to higher tier international series you really need to be showing yourself to be at least top 5 material there unless you've got massive personal finances to draw upon.

Plenty of drivers who beat her in mixed gender series have had nowhere else to go in their careers, while she's had the option to join a segregated series and achieve far greater success than they ever will. Having that series then give her an automatic ticket to a higher tier mixed gender series than she'd have reached directly seems counter productive.

afatbollix

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118979790#Comment_118979790

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118979931#Comment_118979931

Whats to say that's the best they could get?

Maybe channel 4 seen the ratings from last year and went naw not for us, We can get better viewing figures with a rerun of grand designs.

Its the same with every new race series, They give it away for free for the first year get on the public broadcasters promising great viewing figures and then in a years time the BBCs, Virgins & ITV drop them. Motorsport only gets good viewing figures on one race series which is F1 the rest is tiny compared!

guyfo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119005868#Comment_119005868

Thats conplete pie in the sky stuff, it had 0 chance then too... why on earth would the DTM would come to Ireland? Pretty sure Mondellos FIA grade 4 wouldn't even allow the class one cars to race anyway.

Charlie-Bravo

Chadwick was a bit off the boil yesterday and only posted P5 in qualy for today's race. Visser had a great qualifying session putting herself in P2 for the start. Powell took pole by smashing a great lap at the end of qualy. It'll be an in interesting watch to see how Jamie copes starting a little back than used to, especially if it's a wet session. Race start at 13:40 Irish time.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119406769#Comment_119406769

Yes and it is live on Sky Showcase :)

Pure fluck that I noticed that today by the way was looking for F1 qualifying on it.

I think Jamie will do well she is well able to pass but I would like to see Alice Powell win the race.

Burkie1203

starting behind safety car which is a joke

PsychoPete

Ohh that was a nice save from Marti, no need to start behind the safety car

AMKC

Delighted to see Alice Win. Jamie done good too. Not a bad race. I agree there was absolutely no need to be starting behind the safety car just silly.

Charlie-Bravo

Alice held her position well. Not a bad race. Jamie needs a race seat in F2 to showcase her talent. She's streets ahead and keeps showing that every race weekend.

flazio

Nobody said anything on this thread throughout Spain, UK and France. Thought everyone gave up on it once Chadwick kept dominating.

Japan has been cancelled, replaced by Singapore.

Charlie-Bravo

I hear you. If Chadwick put it on pole yesterday, you can be sure I wouldn't have posted 😜

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407782#Comment_119407782

Maybe that was because we could not watch it live.

Ghost Train

I enjoyed the UK race but Chadwick does run away with it most of the time. Today's race was ok but mostly helped by Chadwick being out of position. Was impressed that the damaged car made it around a few corners with the rear wheel hanging off

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119408285#Comment_119408285

She almost done an Alonso.

flazio

In a kind of way, Alice Powell is our representative on W Series. The fin on the back of her helmet is a blend in of the Irish Tricolour into the Union Jack because her grandfather is from Limerick and she keeps very strong ties to the area.

The AA did a podcast episode a few months back on the topic of females in motorsport, W Series was touched on and they also talked to an Irish racer called Nicole Drought. Worth a listen if you are interested in the topic.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1HwZT8tTn62r1210FDO1Mz?si=N-h3x7wYTxaOep9QxuMorQ&utm_source=copy-link

Burkie1203

https://twitter.com/EngineMode11/status/1575395931587051520?t=HTxOf-D9i3zIJfTH7HeEVw&s=19

not good

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119680286#Comment_119680286

That's terrible.

Charlie-Bravo

That would be an utter shame. So much hard work put into the series.

Burkie1203

Rest of wseries Season cancelled

flazio

https://www.instagram.com/p/CjioJo0tarL/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Such a shame.

Ghost Train

Well that sucks, pity not to finish the season, it does say they are sacrificing the last 3 races to save costs towards next season so hopefully will be back, it would be bad way to end the series

https://wseries.com/news/w-series-to-curtail-2022-season-to-focus-on-fundraising-for-2023/