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More than Equal: Creating the next generation of Formula 1 champions
By Tessa Crowley | 12 July 2024 | Culture, Motoring, Sport
In the wake of the British Grand Prix, we meet the team striving to develop young female F1 talent, and foster the next generation of drivers
On Sunday, Lewis Hamilton broke records with his ninth British Grand Prix win. While fans will be delighted to hear that – and excited to see what’s next for the seven-time Formula 1 World Champion, who won’t be retiring any time soon – what else does the future hold for British racing?
The latest crop of Brits are already looking good. Driving for McLaren, British racer Lando Norris drew attention by placing third at Silverstone this week, while Oliver Bearman made his Formula 1 debut for Ferrari this year, securing a full-season contract with Haas for 2025. It’s an exciting time for the next generation of drivers, yet you could be forgiven for assuming that Formula 1 – theoretically the world’s largest gender-neutral sport – is a wholly masculine realm.
While women are welcome to compete, only five have entered for Formula 1 qualifying rounds since 1950, with two successfully making it to race day. Maria Teresa de Filippis finished 10th in 1958’s Belgian Grand Prix, and, 17 years later, Lella Lombardi took home points in 1975’s Spanish Grand Prix. In the nearly fifty years since, not a single woman has raced.
With representation in sports a hot topic, it’s been an encouraging couple of years for young female athletes. The visibility of female teams has dramatically increased and female sportspeople have rocketed to the top of the news agenda, regardless of your preferred pursuit. From the Lionesses’ legendary 2022 Euros win, to Mia Brookes’ Winter Olympics snowboarding gold medal, and Jasmin Paris’ recent Barkley Marathons feat, the ladies are taking the limelight.
This cultural shift has trickled through into motorsports and sparked an exciting new global initiative: More than Equal. Bringing together top business and sporting acumen, from co-founders Karel Komárek and David Coulthard – himself a thirteen-time Grand Prix winner, other notable names involved in the project include Ali Donnelly (Sport England, 10 Downing Street) as CEO, Karen Webb Moss (International Olympic Committee, Aquatics GB) as Chair, and Kate Beavan (Formula 1) as a Strategic Advisor.
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An independent not-for-profit, More than Equal is on a mission to find and foster “the first female F1 world champion”. More than an idealistic campaign, the initiative is founded on four actionable pillars; funding research and data; creating an impactful driver development programme; identifying top talent through data-driven selection methods; and connecting individuals with investment.
So, is finding a female world champion a realistic ambition? More than Equal believe so, but caution it may take ten long years to see this come to fruition. They caution that there’s “no quick way to making this a reality, but, based on our evidence, advice and insight and backed by an overwhelming appetite from fans and the industry to see women in F1 which is made clear in our research, we believe this is possible within a decade”.
Published in 2023 with performance partner Hintsa, More than Equal’s Inside Track Report dug further into the participation and performance abilities of female drivers. Looking at talent, there’s no evidence to be found that women aren’t capable of driving at Formula 1 level. In fact, Hintsa, having worked with multiple Formula 1 world champions, found their male benchmark levels were all achievable by females too.
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So if everyone, from expert trainers and female drivers, to the wider industry, all agree that women are capable of competing at the highest level, what’s stopping them? More than Equal believe they have the answer to that too, citing there’s: “too few women and girls participating…a lack of female role models within the sport, lack of dedicated training and development, difficulty accessing funding, inferior track time and outdated perceptions and stereotypes within motorsport”. Phew!
Other elite level sports have recognised the need to create training and development programmes specifically tailored for female athletes. More than Equal believe now is the time for motorsports to do the same. Its inaugural driver development programme gives young female talent the same support young male talent already receives, with female athletic performance front of mind. “Our goal is to help identify, remove or mitigate…barriers, so talented female drivers have an equal opportunity to succeed.”
With the first group of thirteen and fourteen year olds entering the institution’s pioneering Driver Development Programme this summer, it marks the start of this greater opportunity. Females from Australia, Austria, Czech Republic, Malaysia, and Slovakia have been selected, as well as young British driver Skye Parker. In tandem, looking ahead to future intakes, four more girls with potential have been selected to benefit from More than Equal’s support. Their programme is tailored to their younger age, helping them maximise their talent, in the hope that they’re ready to join the full programme when they turn thirteen.
Taking an Olympic-style approach, More than Equal’s outlook champions early talent detection and high-performance, yet age-appropriate, environments, maximising the potential of the athlete. More than Equal’s CEO, Ali Donnelly, acknowledged: “with the right support early in their career, we can accelerate the development of talented female drivers. [T]hey can have an equal opportunity to reach the top of the sport.”
The big question then is, will the future of Formula 1 Champions be female? More than Equal believes its drivers will be the best prepared female drivers ever so, as far as we’re concerned, at least they’re in with a fighting chance.