Formula E aims to see women compete in its championship alongside male drivers within two to three years: its CEO Jeff Dodds announced that a strengthening of the program for female drivers will be unveiled soon.
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On the sidelines of the championship final in London this weekend, the head of the FIA electric competition wanted to affirm his conviction for women’s access to FE in the near future.
A stance that aims to take the opposite approach of Formula 1 and even its younger sisters F2 and F3 where female presence has been almost nonexistent in recent years, thus closing the door to a potential entry into Grand Prix.
Unsuccessful attempts
But is it opportunism or a real desire to promote women’s motorsport? “We start from the assumption that men and women can compete on equal terms in motorsport, but the conditions are clearly not the same to allow them to reach that level”, says Dodds.
Since the creation of Formula E in 2014, three women have participated in championship races. The most recent is the Swiss Simona de Silvestro in 2016 with Andretti, ten years ago, while the inaugural season 2014/2015 saw Katherine Legge (a regular at Indy 500) take part in the first E-Prix in Beijing for Aguri while Michele Cerruti was fielded a little later by the Trulli team.
For two years, the discipline has also organized test sessions exclusively reserved for women, allowing them to take the wheel of the single-seaters in conditions comparable to those encountered by the regular drivers. The British Abbi Pulling and Jamie Chadwick have thus showcased themselves without ever having their chance in a race, while the French Doriane Pin is now a development driver for Citroën.
These initiatives will now take on a new dimension: “We will soon announce a huge expansion of this program,” confirms Dodds. Until now, it was mainly focused on testing. We are going to set up something much broader to create more opportunities for women to drive these cars and reduce the gap.”
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The stated goal is particularly ambitious: “Within the next two to three years, we want to see women participate in the championship alongside the best male drivers on the grid.”
A much more ambitious program
To achieve this, Formula E will however need the direct involvement of its teams. Most already have at least one female driver in their development program, like Sophia Floersch (photo above) within the new Opel GSE team which will be led by Théo Pourchaire.
“We will ask them to take a further step from next season with these drivers,” continues Dodds. I am delighted to see that they are responding very positively and want to participate in this approach.”
This initiative comes as Formula E is also about to enter a new technical era. The last races of the current generation took place in London before the arrival of the new GEN4 single-seater, lighter, faster and significantly more powerful for 2027.
“We believe this is a real turning point for us,” concludes Dodds. It is an extremely important moment for our growth.”
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