Women to race into the future

Formula One racing would be so much more interesting if it wasn't such a man's world. Who knows, I might even sit down and watch it, follow it even, if it didn't just feel like such a petrol-fuelled, macho domain.

After all, why should it be? To think that it always will be is to accept the notion that men are somehow better drivers than women when all the car insurance data tells us that, if anything, women are actually the more competent motorists.

Good news then to here that team Williams’ development driver Susie Wolff believes it is only a matter of time before women drivers are lining up beside men on the F1 grid.

"I believe it will happen sooner rather than later,” she said. “Definitely within the next decade. There is prejudice in motorsport, but I think that is slowly changing and more females are coming through."

In fact, many will be surprised to learn that women have actually raced against men in the past, with one woman driver in the 1970s, Lella Lombardi, actually competing in 12 races.

It's the word “prejudice” that poses the most stumbling blocks, not only the prejudices of men and the F1 community but also the self-prejudices and self-doubts of women who believe that somehow the world of motor sport is not one they can prosper in. Fortunately, there are inspirational trailblazers like Wolff to show us that this is demonstrably not the case.

Labels: car insurance data, motorists, women drivers