A new formula series called F1 Academy is being created for women at full speed. The F1 Academy came out on social media on Wednesday. The first driver disclosure came on Thursday. Among other things, he was responsible for that Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and by George Russell ART GP, known as the junior team.
ART pinned by Lena Bühler. The 25-year-old Swiss driver has most recently driven in this year’s side of the Middle East F4 series, which includes Finland’s hottest F1 promise at the moment Tuukka Taponen. 16-year-old Taponen won one competition on Tuesday in Kuwait. Bühler has so far been at the tail end of this year’s games.
From F1 Academy was told (you will switch to another service)for the first time at the end of last year. The series includes five successful teams familiar from the F2 and F3 classes. Each team has three drivers. The teams have promised to be involved until 2025. The new series is supposed to have seven race weekends and a total of 21 races. One of the race weekends is planned to run in the same place as the F1 series.
F1 Academy is another formula series established for women from time to time.
The first was established in 2018, when the W Series burst onto the motorsport map. However, the W Series season was cut short in October due to financial difficulties. Since then, nothing has been heard about the future of the W Series.
Driven in the series in all three seasons Emma Kimiläinen however, has heard a positive message about the W Series. According to them, it looks like the streak will continue this year.
– However, I cannot say when anything will be announced. Contract negotiations usually take quite a long time. They always have their own twists. In that sense, the situation is completely understandable. Absurdly big deals cannot be completed in a couple of months, Kimiläinen states.
W Series announced in October that it ran into financial problems when one of the investors committed to the series withdrew. According to W Series, the contracts had been concluded.
– We knew that surviving such an attack would take time, says Kimiläinen.
According to Kimiläinen, getting through this year’s competition calendar would be nice for the Finnish driver’s other jobs.
– I believe that the calendar will be focused on the end of the season, i.e. the time after the middle of the F1 season. In this situation, you won’t necessarily be able to participate in the early season, Kimiläinen states.
F1 Academy puts more pressure on F1 bosses
From the bosses of the top teams in the F1 series to Mercedes Toto Wolff and Christian Horner have had time to glow (you switch to another service) the new F1 Academy, as well as the CEO of the F1 series Stefano Domenicali.
Wolff’s Susie wife is still the last woman to take part in an F1 weekend. In 2014, he drove in practice for the British GP with Williams. The previous time was 30 years ago.
The F1 series has committed to support the F1 Academy with 2.25 million euros. Kimiläinen sees a lot of good things in F1 Academy in addition to good teams.
– If you are really talented, the F1 bosses have a little political pressure to get a woman from the pipeline who goes all the way to the F1 series. When you win that series, real doors start to open, says Kimiläinen.
According to Kimiläinen, F1 Academy and W Series are not competitive series. Kimiläinen sees the F1 Academy driven by F4 cars as a sub-series of W Seres, which allows you to make an effort from karting to the formula series.
– If I were 15 years younger or at least 10 years younger and were to switch from karting to formulas, this series would be a viable option for me, Kimiläinen states.
The difference between F1 Academy and W Series is that drivers in F1 Academy need 150,000 euros to drive. In the W Series, drivers do not have to pay anything.
– Finding a budget of 150,000 euros from all 15 women is of course a challenge and the fact that they are young enough drivers and driving an F4 car is really beneficial, Kimiläinen reminds of the challenges.
Kimiläinen is not about to end his own racing career, if the W Series cannot be started and the season of the series comes to an end. In his dreams, the legendary 24 hours of Le Mans race will still exist one day.
– If you want to build a career in that direction, you have to think about the steps calmly. At this age, I’m not in a terrible hurry for anything. If there were to be a gap year, the world has not fallen into it before, says Kimiläinen, who already stopped driving once in the early 2010s.