Driving Equality: F1 Academy Accelerates Opportunities for Female Racers to Pursue Their Racing Dreams

SEATTLE - After a successful inaugural 2023 season, the Formula 1 Academy kicked off their 2024 campaign this past weekend in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The seven race championship is Formula 1's latest initiative to engage and inspire girls and young women around the world to consider a future in motorsports. The next stop will be the Miami street circuit set to take place on the first weekend of May.

Starting this year, all Formula 1 teams will support 10 of the 15 drivers competing in this year's F1 Academy by having their livery on one car, while the other five drivers will be supported by the series' partners. F1 has also allocated money to support this initiative, subsidizing the cost of each car with a budget of €150,000, with the drivers covering the same amount of costs.

"We have to be very strategic, but also, I think we have to always check that what we're doing is having a positive impact. We're not existing just for the sake of existing, it needs to be impactful," said Susie Wolff, Formula 1 Academy Managing Director. "Obviously having the F1 teams on board and their supporting drivers is also a big foundation of hopefully our mid-to-long term success. It was clear for me that two things had to happen - racing with F1 and having F1 teams onboard and that we managed to achieve," Wolff said.

Besides the racing aspect of things, the F1 Academy Discover your Drive initiative was also launched in an attempt to increase participation at the grass root and, in consequence, increase the talent pool. With workshops and professional programs to promote female participation in the sport, Formula 1 Academy seeks to make racing in Formula 1 an achievable dream for young girls.

With the category trying to lurk in more people, F1 Academy races will be shown live in over 160 countries and streamed live on F1 Academy's social media channels. A total of 23 broadcasters are expected to air the 2024 season.

In history, only five women have attempted to qualify for a world championship race at the Formula 1 level. Born almost 100 years ago, Maria Teresa de Filippis was the first woman to start a Formula 1 race. Between 1958 and 1959, de Filippis entered five Formula 1 races, starting three of those with the first one coming at the Belgian Grand Prix. She qualified in 19th place and crossed the line in 10th.

Following on her footsteps, four other women attempted to qualify for a race but only Maria Grazia "Lella" Lombardi was the only one to succeed in qualifying. Throughout her career, Lombardi entered 17 races and qualified for 12 of them, making her debit in Formula 1 in 1975. Lombardi remains as the only woman to ever score points at a Formula 1 race, when she accounted for 0.5 points thanks to a 6th place finish at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix.