Following official confirmation that W Series has entered administration, Sky Sports F1 reporter Ted Kravitz has revealed that Lewis Hamilton was the only driver to ever visit the championship’s paddock.
Prior to W Series entering administration last week, the seven-time World Champion often spoke very highly of the all-female championship and how important it was to help women progress up the racing ladder.
All three seasons of W Series were won by Williams Driver Academy member Jamie Chadwick, who has made the trip across the pond this year to compete in the IndyNXT series.
The reason for W Series’ collapse was that it failed to secure enough sponsorship funding for 2023, whilst the final three races of 2022 were also cancelled.
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Kravitz and journalist Claire Cottingham discussed W Series entering administration on a recent episode of the Sky Sports F1 podcast, where the host of ‘Ted’s Notebook’ revealed that Hamilton was the only F1 star “who bothered” to meet the women competing in the series.
“Lewis was to my certain knowledge the only driver who bothered to come down to the W Series paddock,” Kravitz told the podcast.
“He went down. He did,” confirmed Cottingham.
Kravitz continued: “I asked him on Friday what he felt still needed to be done and he was looking at companies coming in. I don’t think W Series fell short by tens of millions of pounds.”
“In the grand scheme of F1 sponsorships and the amount of money going around. It wouldn’t have been much for one of the sponsors to throw it a lifeline.”
Following the end of W Series, F1 Academy has been introduced.
F1 Academy is a new all-female championship which was introduced this year and is funded by the FIA, rather than outside sponsors.
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The aim of the championship is to help young female drivers progress into the likes of Formula 3 and Formula 2, with all the teams in F1 Academy having sides in the junior categories.
F1 Academy has already encountered a couple of issues, such as the fact that the races aren’t available to view live.
This will presumably change next season though, as F1 Academy will feature on the F1 support bill.