WTF Happened to the W Series?

foreign 2006 Vancouver the women's Rugby World Cup final yeah this is still a motorsport Channel just hit me up for a sec this match has been held between two Nations so passionately dedicated to the sport and to them this is the Day of Reckoning and their lifelong dream but unfortunately for them that passion isn't matched by the fans mainly because there were no fans no one turned up that day there was just no interest in the women's division of the sport at the time and to some of the more extreme Bunch it wasn't even a sport fast forward to 2022 and things are a little bit different [Music] National Stadium of New Zealand sold out to watch these women compete in the World Cup final and ended up producing one of the greatest games of the sport that you would ever see yeah it's kind of a relatively Niche sport but the effect that this game had is profound in all sorts of ways and it was in complete contrast as to what was happening 5 000 miles away the drivers of the all women's W series were left in limpo as the season was canceled before the final two rounds could be run the issues plaguing the series becoming too much and leaving the future of the series and serious Stouts a few months go by and we would get confirmation that the series has indeed died out consigned to the motor racing graveyard and leaving multiple drivers without a seat and so now we're asking ourselves the question what the [ __ ] happened to the W series We Are The Music Makers and we are the dreamers of Dreams female participation in Motorsport hasn't been the best to put it mildly while we have had the likes of Michelle Mouton the absolute goddess of rallying from France who took on the guys and freaking beat them in the scariest rally cars of them all Group B they haven't been nearly enough of them to come along since humans started racing virtually anything that had wheels on it so with the desire to make the paddock list of a sausage fest their work inserted efforts made to help curb this issue around the end of 2017 rumors abound in all female racing series would be set up as a response to the lack of female participation in Motorsport and in particular on the Formula One theater series ladder now an all-female racing series isn't exactly a new invention it's been attempted before in the past with the likes of the master 121 challenge in Australia in the 90s and formula woman in the UK in the early 2000s however neither of those series used open wheeler cars this rumored series was set to do that and seemed to have far greater Ambitions than what those previous two did finally of October 2018 the series was officially launched it would be known as The W series the series would utilize 18 identical tatus t318 cards with Alfa Romeo engines and running Hancock tires but one of the big things about this Championship was the prize pool with half a million going to the champion and going all the way down to the driver who got 18th who got about 20 bucks worth of BP voucher so these cars weren't quite in Formula 3 but more sort of formula Regional spec but hey they were still open wheels and they still went from wrong it had the support of F1 veterans David Coulthard and Adrian newly and was spearheaded by Catherine Von Miller now there's no such thing as a free lunch in Motorsport even if you are attached to an academy I mean that [ __ ] ain't free I mean yeah there are various funds and initiatives but the W series got about as close as you can get to a free lunch for the drivers instead of forking out hundreds of thousands for a season in this series they wouldn't have to pay a penny and in lieu of this extraordinary generosity the 18 drivers for the series will be selected by judging panel that consisted of David Coulthard former F1 on driver Alexander verse and Sebring 12-hour winner Linson James as cortad put it at the moment women racing drivers tend to reach a glass ceiling at around Formula 3 level on their learning curve often as a result of lack of funding rather than a lack of talent that's why an all-new all-female single-seater motor racing series is required to establish a competitive and constructive Motor Racing habitat in which our drivers will be able to equip themselves with the necessary skill set eventually to move on up to existing high-level mainstream racing series and compete with the best male drivers on equal terms well that's all very nice but the series got immediate pushback from people who believe the very concept of the series was flawed and that it was in essence segregation drivers pipperman and Sofia flush were particularly vocal with Pippa labeling it a sad day for Motorsport ouch Simona disylvestro suggested that perhaps the 1.5 million that was put toward the price fund would be better spent toward a driver development program similar to the ones put in place by Formula One academies even Michelle Mouton the Wonder Woman Of Motor Racing criticized the series for operating as a limited level since the best performers don't participate but thems were the comments made by actual racing drivers when it came to the public you could kind of imagine what the response was like whether it was right or wrong just or not the series would go ahead so the year 2019 would see the debut of the series the task of selecting the 18 drivers that would compete in the championship was relatively straightforward there were a series of modules dished out to the competitors based on a variety of things racecraft Fitness level sponsorship pictures media relations hostage negotiations anything and everything that you would associate with the realities of being a race car driver because this may come as a shock to some of you but being a race car driver ain't just about you know racing cars I mean it kind of is if you come from money but if you don't you've got to possess every damn skill on the planet before you hop into a racing car you gotta Forge contacts then find sponsors within that contact list parlay with teams to get seats negotiate and hassle to try and get the best deal possible build a social media Empire find your USP stay in shape obviously and absolutely dedicate yourself in every conceivable way to better yourself not just as a racing driver but as a marketing commodity following their modules the candidates would head to the circuito de Amira in Spain to take part in a series of races before the final few who made the cart would attend an evaluation that would determine the grid for the forthcoming season of the 56 drivers that enters these were the 28 they were then sent through to the final stage and from there these were the 18 drivers that would ultimately line up for the first ever W Series race in May that yeah so pretty good right well not quite there was some conjecture about who was selected and who was not for example the likes of Chelsea Angelo and Charlotte pointing were amongst the fastest on pure Pace they didn't even get through to the final stage with pointing saying that they obviously weren't looking for the fastest drivers the others disagreed and said that it was a sphere as fear can be but I suppose if there's any criminal Comfort to take from this it's that Carmen Jordan didn't make the Final Cuts either so let's just take that dive and move on on the 4th of May the W series turned up to the Hockenheim ring in Germany as part of the support card for the DTM series for their inaugural race and motor racing history what's the best way to describe what happened well it was a typical formula Regional race not that that's a bad thing but rather we got to see these drivers a little bit better rather than having them drown in a Formula 3 team that had less resources than a cave heading into that season there were indeed some favorites to take the championship that Bing botskavissa Alice Powell and of course Jamie Chadwick this pretty much played out when those three locked out the first four positions with karting Prospect and Renault F1 Academy driver Marta Garcia taking third on the Deus the rest of the races That season took place at zolder masalo Doris ring asson and Brandt's hatch they were all world-class race tracks but a far way away from the Herman silky parking lots would become accustomed to in modern day F1 and that was a good thing because it meant that these drivers were actually challenged that final race at Bran's hatch was a showdown between Chadwick and Visa with Chadwick on pole position and Brands hatch being virtually impossible to pass on in an open wheeler all chatter set to do was believe in the Euro wash and cruise time to Victory I mean you think despite those fears of this Championship would just be a walkover she was being hounded a lot of the time by the likes of this Alice Powell and Emma Kim Malin and in this finale just that was happening at some point during the race Powell decided that Chadwick was spawning the view a little bit dive down the inside of Paddock Hill band and pulled off a move that clay rig is only could only dream about Kim malignant saw this as an open door and threw Jaime down to Third and right into the clutches of bitesgarvisa when Mickey koyama's clutch went on strike the safety car was brought out with six minutes remaining Visa a former Rebel Jr knew that it was virtually a win it or Bennett scenario and so she sent it she may have been introducing some lawn mowing in that process but she did move up to third as things stood Chadwick had a 10-point lead in the standings but if Visa took the lead the standings would go to a count back and would ultimately give Visa the championship it was a great effort to get up to third but it was just and only just not enough power won the race came a line in seconds and visit third Chadwick did finish in fourth but she became the inaugural w-series Champion when you boil it all down it was a decent first year for the championship good racing up and down the field and a nail biting finale to Capital off yeah it wasn't perfect and yeah there were some drivers in there who perhaps shouldn't have been there but that's a problem with every racing series that ever existed ever not just this one it was a good initiative it was a good start and next year was sure to be better except one must remember what that next year was ah yes the year where the world ended for about two years the Motorsport will ground to a halt and obviously this included the W series it was announced in June that the series would not be run that year and instead all efforts would be redirected to 2021 we would however see some racing from these gals that year on iRacing it was slightly hairbrained and that they ran from the Renault cars on typical tracks such as Monza interlagos France hatch Suzuka Bathurst no big ring nord's life okay what despite this rather dangerous albeit rather brilliantly dangerous calendar the racing was actually quite decent and remember this was around the same time that the V8 Supercar series had their own Esports series which went well I'd give us a won the series with a round to spare but if we're honest we wanted to get back to some real racing here we wouldn't get that in 2020 but for 2021 the W series will be put on the support bill for the Formula One World Championship this was Mega news something that would seriously raise the profile of the championship and give these drivers the recognition that they need the first round was in Austria and Chadwick was heavily favored to defend her Championship although it didn't get off to the best of starts however she eventually ascended to the level we kind of expected of her in the first place a win in Race 2 as well as another in Hungary and two in Austin gave her her second W series crown with Alice pound second and emikama linen and third up and down the field there were other drivers who were showing their strengths that'd be involved in for example often showed some great stuff throughout the year and Abby pulling secured a pole position as a reserve driver in the final round in Austin the new Super Sub now the Roberto mourinho's gone fishing but if we're all gonna be totally honest here the 2021 season was largely memorable for two reasons is an unforgiving circuit at the best of times but when it starts to play guard it gets straight up nasty during qualifying for round five of the championship the conditions were fine just when the drivers reached the dreadedo Rouge they found a surface that produced grip levels that could best be described as no Sarah Moore went off first then Abby Eaton then when butts give us a followed suit things started to get scary Ayla Agron joined and soda Bell and Garcia throwing visas cut up into the air and when it finally came back down to rest valven threw it back up into the air again whilst taking the rear axle along with her all in all six cars were involved in this pileup how these drivers never picked up an injury in particular Visa who spent more time Airborne here than what grosjon did back in 2012 is a testament to the safety of them cars and the effectiveness of the Halo especially so soon after what happened at that part of the track with Juan Manuel career and Antoine Huber all you care about in that scenario is that all the drivers walked away but once that thus settled an unfortunate consequence is that any of the doubters who watch that plane crash would have started to draw conclusions about the skill level of the series despite the fact that literally every other racing series that has ever raced here ever has had crashes like that at that corner something else that was notable That season occurred in the last round in Austin Abby Eaton's car was thrown into the air by one of those stupid freaking curbs designed by even stupider people and when her car came back down to earth she fractured her teeth for vertebrae another victim of the worst invention by the FIA since the FIA itself and so heading into 2022 we perhaps were looking forward to another crop of drivers coming through and proving their worth I mean after all this is a fetus series and the objective is to prove you worth here and then progress to the next stage but what we got instead was that two-time defending Champion Jamie Chadwick would return for the season and this whole damn thing kind of defeated the purpose and the goal set forth by the series in Formula 3 and formula 2 if you become Champion you can't return and that was the aim here but obviously that wasn't enforced why this was I have no idea at this point despite all has been run by Double R racing drivers were consigned to teams most of which were only really there for identification purposes but eventually some sponsors did come along and essentially purchased naming rights to those teams and one of those sponsors would attach themselves to Chadwick's team for the 2022 season it was of course Caitlyn Jenner once Arisa always eraser but despite the added exposure for the series this most definitely generated and the novel Ambitions of becoming the Roger Penske of the series it did come with a lot of controversy as with the previous two seasons the drivers were selected via an evaluation with the exception of the top eight finishes from the previous year who gained automatic entry onto the grid for 2022 for the second year in a row the series would be on the Formula One support bill and the season would begin for them in Miami Maria Marty started on pole position and was still on it as everyone else started the race from then on in there was some great battling for the lead between Chadwick kimelinan and Marta Garcia perhaps The Dredge of another runaway Chatter's victory was behind us well no thanks to some slightly unhelpful gymnastics Chadwick won the first race of the season and the second and the third and the fourth and the fifth the only thing that could really match Chadwick's winning streak was kimberlyn and spinning one the closest anyone really got to her was Abby pulling in Barcelona but still this was domination on a grand scale it wasn't until round six where else pal finally broke the streak but by that time the championship was all but over Shadows had virtually sewn up her third W series Crown the next round was in Japan or at least it was supposed to be unfortunately the series hit a snag with what they described as unforeseeable operational challenges and a lot of people who have watched and been involved in Motorsport long enough looked at that and thought oh crap here we go again yes there were legitimately some unforeseen circumstances that were plaguing everyone around the world financially but to some this could be seen as the proverbial death rattle of a racing series where stuff starts falling apart like an Ocean Gate submarine to help mitigate these Financial issues for the Singapore ramp were online from the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand versus dominated the race whilst chat has found the barriers after neglecting the break for turn 7 but aside from the ridiculous sight of drivers having to haul their races to the cars on foot through the city streets they were already grave concerns regarding whether or not the series would ever live to see the end of the season there were still three rounds to be held in the United States and Mexico but on the 10th of October all of this came to a grinding halt the season was canceled Chadwick was Crown Champion yet again with the 50-point buffer over Visa crucially it was only the season that was canceled at this point CEO Catherine bommuir remained optimistic that this series would return stronger than ever come the year 2023 but aside from the absence of money which does make Logistics a little bit tricky there was something else that was threatening the existence of the series there were already rumors that Formula One themselves were looking to implement a similar series of their own and on November 2022 this would come to fruition with the formation of the F1 Academy similar-ish cars with dedicated Stillwater teams such as Prima Carlin art MP and Campos would make the series now yeah it's not actually on the F1 support bill and the lack of live broadcasting is absolutely unacceptable and there are some interesting aspects regarding those cars and I'll just leave it at that but by the 29th of April they were racing the W series meanwhile was completely silent and most of its drivers had already jumped ship to the other Pond we all kind of what it meant we were just awaiting confirmation on the 15th of June 2023 we got it the W series was officially dead the series had gone into Administration thus ending the championship and the lofty goals and Ambitions that came with it to some it was labeled A Dark Day for women's Motorsport to others it was a case of I Told You So to a lot of people though only one word popped up failure this series was a failure but was it really I mean as an actual Racing Series yeah it befell the financial Boogeyman and was consigned to the motor racing graveyard unfortunately sponsors and investors bailing on Motor Racing Partnerships happens pretty much on a daily basis this is the reality for this game but it's even more so for female drivers and for the series that was the death blow but the purpose of this series went beyond existing to cater to kids born with a silver spoon in their mouths for some of those drivers this series got them racing again since the season was free and they had no money to race in the first place because of the series they were able to keep their careers going and their performances at least for some of them help them get noticed as opposed to if they were drowning in Formula Regional with the team using parts from the Stone Age they've since gone on to other racing series a few of them have been successful and some even have attached themselves to Formula One academies but thinking back to that World Cup final mentioned at the very start of the video that was a long way away from where that particular sport used to be it went from having no one paying attention no one watching to having a whole nation watching with a packed out National Stadium and with the right marketing and the right amount of exposure for the sport it inspired the next generation of girls to partake in the sport to emulate their Heroes for way too [ __ ] long girls have been told they can't be racing drivers it might not be the only thing but this this series changed a lot of things female participation in Motorsport across the board has risen since this Championship came about and a few years down the line hopefully more will start cropping up around the Formula One feeder series ladder so yeah the racing series itself is dead drivers would not pay the prize money in that final season and yeah you heard that rise the big draw card of the series was not delivered and left the drivers out of pocket with the crippling Financial circumstances proving why there is no free lunch in this game and I'm not gonna guess like you're here and say that it was a grid full of Formula One worthy talents because it wasn't that but the series did achieve its goal of boosting the appeal of the sport to those who aren't you know male look we all want the sport to thrive we wanted to go from strength to strength and while the series is gone it might just have served as the Catalyst for the better [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Josh Revell

Views: 485,657

Keywords: f1, formula 1, f1 academy, w series, w series 2019, w series 2020, w series 2021, w series 2022, jamie chadwick

Id: FU3J0wjLm8I

Length: 19min 19sec (1159 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 06 2023