Formula one news

Nico Rosberg wants to see a clear pathway emerge for another female driver to reach Formula 1.

In the sport’s history, five women have competed at F1 race weekends. Only two of them, Italian duo Maria Teresa de Filippis and Lella Lombardi, started races. Lombardi scored a half point in the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix.

Davina Galica, Desire Wilson and, most recently, Giovanna Amati in 1992, all tried and failed to qualify for races.

However, the profile of female drivers in various motorsport categories is continually increasing – and the presence of the W Series, with live TV coverage on grand prix weekends just before qualifying, is helping greatly in that regard.

Rosberg is actively playing a role in helping to create opportunities for female drivers due to being a team principal in Extreme E.

Last year, Rosberg X Racing became the inaugural champions in that male/female driver series and with Johan Kristoffersson now partnered by a fellow Swede in Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky, who has taken over from Molly Taylor, the team are well on course to retain the title.

The 2016 World Champion has been extremely impressed with Ahlin-Kottulinsky, whom he describes as “in my eyes, the best female racer in the world at the moment” after the 29-year-old “unceremoniously swept away nine-time rally world champion Sébastien Loeb” at the Extreme E event in Sardinia.

Now the former Williams and Mercedes driver is keen to see more chances for women in Formula 1.

“We must finally release the brakes on equality so female racers can make it to the top class,” Rosberg told Welt am Sonntag, quoted by Auto Bild.

“We have to promote women more in motorsport, just like we do in Extreme E – and we have to do it all the way up to Formula 1.

“For this we need financial but also idealistic support. From associations, clubs, racing series, sponsors, manufacturers and fans, so female racers are supported from an early age and manage to attract the attention of financiers and the media.

“But above all, so they believe in themselves and don’t have to fight the battle alone. Parents of talented girls need to know it’s worth investing in their child because the path to the top is clear.”

Put to him whether “girls can be as fast as boys”, Rosberg replied: “I see nothing wrong with that. In motorsport, just like in equestrian sports or sailing, the alleged physical superiority of men hardly plays a role.

“We have the race car that puts the power to the ground. The rest is talent, experience, technique and above all mental strength. Small and petite racers, by the way, even have an advantage over tall and heavy drivers.

“And as the father of two self-confident daughters, I know women have just as much courage as men, not only on the race track.

“I don’t have a final solution, but one thing I’ve learned in Formula 1 is that where there’s a will, there’s a way and there is a solution for everything.

“Let’s finally give the girls a chance. The time is ripe.”

Host Alex Marlow opens today’s podcast with the latest on the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago and the media hysteria about whether or not journalists are allowed to report what is in public documents. Odd. Or is it? Alex explains. He also discusses the passage of the Orwellian-named Inflation Reduction Act and the stabbing attack on the author Salman Rushdie. Then, Alex gives his “Woke Update” and more headlines. Our guest today is Florida Congresswoman Kat Cammack (R). She gives her take on the FBI raid and promises investigations should Republicans take back the House majority in November. She also updates us on the baby formula shortage and the disastrous nature of the latest spending bill that sailed through Congress. She also offers us a warning against being too cocky heading into the midterm elections.

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Dave Robson concedes that for a team like Williams it was difficult to gamble with this year’s all-new regulations as the “house normally wins”.

Williams put a standard, if one can call it that, FW44 on the track this season, the car not sporting any stand-out features as Formula 1 embraced an all-new era of ground effect aerodynamics and simplistic wings.

But ten races into the season they changed that, opting for a Red Bull-esque design – not a copy of the RB18 by any means, but just drawing from its concept.

Robson, Williams’ head of vehicle performance, admits it is more difficult for teams like Williams, playing at the bottom of the field, to experiment as they do actually have more to lose.

“When you’re behind, you can’t just take risks, you can’t just gamble, that rarely pays off,” he said as per GPFans. “The house normally wins when you go gambling, don’t they?

“But you’ve got to push things because, A, you want to understand that when you push them they work as you expect them to, which ultimately is the important bit going forward. But equally, we also wanted just to make up for the slow start.

“It’s important that not only do we show the progress, but it’s important for everyone who is working so hard that we do a better job this year.”

Other teams did go radical with their designs, Mercedes putting out a zero-pod W13 while Ferrari went with the baby bath sidepods for their F1-75.

Williams have yet to score a single point in the revised FW44, their best result Albon’s P12 at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The driver had twice scored in the older-spec car, 10th in Australia and ninth in Miami, but with those the team’s only three points, Williams are tenth and last on the log .

“It would be nice to score some more points in the second half of the season and I think there is a chance to do that,” Robson continued.

“And the knock-on effect amongst the whole team back at the fact and the drivers is, just to see that progress, to hopefully push on and score some points, that whole morale boost is also important.

“It’s hard to quantify but it definitely has a material effect.

“It’s necessary and right to push everything hard now to keep up that momentum and make sure we continue to act like a proper race team and then behind the scenes, there is the learning to take from that which can only help next year.”

Sebastian Vettel’s ability to unite the Ferrari team has been hailed as “second to none” by their current sporting director.

The German spent six seasons at Ferrari having joined from Red Bull in 2015 and achieved 14 wins with the team, but there was always a sense of what could have been.

Having left Red Bull as a four-time World Champion, Vettel would no doubt have hoped he would add to that tally during his time at the most successful team in the sport – but his period in the seat coincided with the emergence of the dominant Mercedes as well as problems within Ferrari.

By the time of his departure, Vettel’s relationship had dramatically deteriorated to the point it was debated whether he may even leave the team mid-season rather than wait until the end.

The German did stay until the end of the 2020 campaign before moving to Aston Martin but despite his issues, current Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies has praised Vettel’s ability to unite a team.

“I like to separate the driver from the man,” the 45-year-old told Formula Passion . “The driver always had an incredible attention to detail and from his very beginnings you could tell he had something special.

“He has grown throughout his career and at Ferrari he developed a talent for trying to bring the team together, in good times and bad. In this, he was second to none. Plus, with his talent and dedication, his attention to detail, he achieved what he achieved.

“But I think we will also remember about him the incredible respect for all his colleagues. In his eyes, you can clearly read that when you talk to him. And that was something that pushed us to improve and it was a privilege to have shared the path with him.”

It appears it is not only his team Vettel is able to unite as his opponents also speak very highly of him. He serves on the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association board as a director and there have been plenty of calls for him to stay on even after he hangs up his racing boots.

Williams’ Nicholas Latifi also praised Vettel for having the welfare of all racing drivers at heart, not only his contemporaries in Formula 1.

“Sebastian is definitely one of the more vocal ones – that’s not the right word, but he’s definitely one of the drivers who always speaks his mind and gives it to the stewards when he has one,” said the Canadian, quoted by Motorsport-total.com.

“Especially when it comes to the safety of drivers, and not only the drivers on the [F1] grid but also in the junior classes.

“It also shows what a good guy he is because logically it’s extra work on top of his already busy life as a Formula 1 driver.”