The presence of females in Formula 1 is an area that still needs growth, with the sport still being majorly male dominated.
Driver such as Jamie Chadwick have slowly begun to become involved in F1, with the three-time W-Serie champion still being affiliated to Williams despite her move to race in other categories.
Alpine have now set up a new centre in its Enstone base dedicated to increasing female involvement in the team, by developing performance-based training plans for aspiring female drivers.
Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi has explained that the team believe the can be strengthened by the introduction of more females, with the scheme being introduced for the team’s benefit rather than just to send a message.
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“There are very few women competing and working in this industry,” said Rossi at the recent A523 launch.
“By detecting, hiring, developing female talent we want to strengthen the Alpine team. It’s our way of giving equal opportunities to everyone and fuel the performance of Alpine.”
The team’s human resources director, Claire Mesnier, has reinforced Rossi’s suggestions that the introduction of more females is for the benefit of the team, rather than just to promote equal opportunities throughout the sport.
“We are being quite selfish with this. We didn’t launch the program to change the world or paint everything in pink,” she said.
“It’s about racing, it’s about winning, it’s about building power, it’s about doing it better than our rivals.
“There’s a lot of bias, such as women don’t have the physical capacity to drive in Formula 1 or women are not able to endure pressure in the pit lane or even, for some of them, that motorsports are not at all a women’s thing.
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“I personally believe these prejudices are false but I am not naïve – saying so is no longer enough. We need science-based evident to prove what is wrong about these prejudices.”
With programs such as Alpine’s slowly entering Formula 1, the number of females in F1 should steadily begin to increase.
While it will obviously not change overnight, hopefully the future of F1 can be filled with equal opportunities for every gender, race and background.