I mean the question is can a women handle 5gs? Brittany Force has answered that. Twice. Now can a women be better than a man in F1? I don't see why not, given we have female pilots in combat situations already. I think the problem is you have a smaller starting pool, hence you'll naturally have less people involved. If I wanted just a pit stop, that's easy. As a red-blooded male, I want MORE real women fans in the sport. Not less. I want more female fans sitting next to me where I can argue the merits of Verstappen versus Leclerc. Put another way, I rather have a cheerleader sitting next to me for 3 hours then 100 yards away for 5 minutes. Easiest way for that to happen is....
Drag racing has undoubtedly had the most female racers of any professional motorsport and they have been very successful too. That said drag racing is a very very different skillset to road racing. Not to take away from the skill of drag racing as it is a very demanding activity at the highest level but the discussion here is on F1 and the only parallels to drag racing are 4 wheels and an engine.
You make a good point. Sustained Gs is very different then 3 seconds. That said, to me, the most 'hard core' activity is flying an F35 in combat. Now is the women in that situation a token PC inclusion? Perhaps, thankfully we don't have a war time situation where we have kill counts might be an objective measure. But we do have 2 nazi hunter aces that were women in crazy WW2 planes, that's enough for me to say I'm a believer. Add to the fact that people that harp on car+strategy management > driver skill has any role to F1 World Champion into the mix.
Don't forget that drag racing takes less than 4 seconds or 5(???). F1 takes 2 hours and at times where track temps reach 150 Celsius.
Agreed TOTALLY different motorsport disciplines with completely different skills. That said I cannot stress enough the skill required to drag race at the highest level. Any hardcore racing enthusiast owes it to themselves to go to an NHRA level drag race. Seeing cars go from zero to over 330mph in under 4 seconds will take your breath away. It is an assault on the senses. But I digress.
Big difference physiologically between high vertical g-loading and high lateral g-loading. Lateral loading, at best, is similar between fighter pilots and F1. However fighter pilots would not experience the high lateral loads for extended periods.
These arguments above remind me of the history of women competing in distance races in running. The 1500 meters was only added to the Olympic roster in 1972. That was also the first year that women were allowed to run the Boston Marathon. The Olympics didn't add the marathon for women until 1984. The thought previous to that was that they were too fragile for such a strenuous endeavor. There are almost certainly women who are physically capable of driving a modern F1 car. It would be nice to see that happen because it would be good for the sport.
So stick em in a simulator - crank it up and see what happens - My take on all of this as previously posted is the ladder should be the ladder and the criteria should be the criteria - if you cut it you cut it and if you don't you don't - regardless of your gender or any other factor. And I am NOT a fan of specialized "academies" for specific groups - if that happens where does is stop: Female Academy Trans Academy "Unsure what I am" Academy Black Academy Asian Academy Jewish Academy Atheist Academy Latino Academy "Boring white guy named Bob" Academy yadda yadda yadda .... Pathetic
As true as this is, the fact remains that the world record times in the marathon differ by about 14 minutes between men and women. As such different categories are created in order to make the women competitive as the course and distance is no different when they compete in the same events. While there is no doubt that there are women out there with the strength to compete against men it has yet to be shown that, say after a GP distance, they would be able to maintain the pace necessary to be competitive.
Women are having great success head to head with men in drag racing. They struggle keeping up motorcycles, more physical. What keeps them from being as competitive in car racing? F1 is very physical, but it shouldn't be an overall limiting factor. Is it Testosterone? I know just club racing often my qualifying and race results just came down to an attitude I was going to kick the tracks ass, I was going to kick the ass of every other driver, don't brake until you see God, be willing to die for it. I think that attitude certainly might explain several tenths of a second and women don't naturally have it.
Agreed. Various groups always love to scream for 'equality' yet are happy to be sheltered by these 'special' series' and programs justifying it by saying that it is merely an equalizing of the injustices their 'people' have encountered in the past (often times generations ago). I've often queried about the backlash that would exist if you created a 'mens only' racing category. If it is ok to allow women to have their own category then by extension the men should be allowed the same consideration. Too bad the real world frowns on logic. I'll get off my soapbox now.
My two penny worth . I don't think having a new category for women is necessary, and it may be counter-productive in the end. What teams and sponsors look for are new talents, and by segregating women from the mainstream feeder series, you will never know how they compare to men. The better known female drivers made headlines by competing against their male counterparts, and sometimes beating them, not competing among themselves! I would think that offering financial incentives (like purses or budget) to some females to help them through the existing feeder series, to compensate from the lack of sponsors' interest, would be more productive if we want to promote them in motorsport. Arranging that support could be the responsability of national sporting organisations.
She raced F3 in Asia and finished in the Top 5 a few times behind Mazepin and Jack Doohan a few years back. DIFFERENT G'S!!! Planes roll to turn, the more roll the more g's. The only time an F1 car rolls is when Latif is involved. Image Unavailable, Please Login As you can see the plane is always producing vertical g even when rolling, it's not producing more horizontal g which is what F1 cars produce so its a useless comparison. F1 does 6.5g not 5g. Here is Lewis pulling 6.3g Turn 1 and 6.5g Turn 11 at Melb in 2017. Also it seems any clown with zero training can handle a 9g manoeuvre in a g-suit. She is technically the Stroll in her sport except for the fact she has won many many many times I remember watching the Force family "reality" show back in the day. The human body can withstand 5g with no "training" so that's probably why women excel in drag racing since top fuelers only do 5.3g. Same with Indycar if we use Danica Patrick as an example. Women that might handle 6.5g probably have the wrong body type, being too big/tall for open wheelers. Chadwick could run in F2 since it's only 3.9g but she doesn't have the funds. Like W Series, I don't see how this Academy helps them get into F1. Chadwick has 3 titles under her belt and still can't get the money to drive in F2. Instead of putting them in the special needs championship they should just pay for Chadwick's seat in F2 and produce a spinoff Netflix series.
Very astute, concise and well-articulated post - and frankly one that can be applied in many areas of society, the workplace etc. I could articulate a few but would be bordering on and no-doubt incite P&R comments so will refrain - but excellent post
God I would love to And while your at it check out Leah Pruett .... Now granted NHRA Top Fuel is a whole different ballgame than F1 - but still worth checking out - even if you don't like any form of racing
I can see this going off topic pretty (no pun intended) fast. If we are going to judge female racers on how they look then that makes us part of the problem guys. I only really care what the stopwatch says.
She never would have made it without her father. That's not to say she didn't have talent but she had a HUGE advantage.
I think like any sport, there are differences between men and women that usually relate to strength which separates them. No top women golfer will beat a top male golfer. No top woman tennis player will beat a top male tennis player. No top WNBA player will ever compete in the NBA. There's no Olympic record where a female has it over a male. We think of drivers as just sitting down all the time and moving the wheel. Its hard work and it goes on for hours. That's not to say a woman can't be in F1 but really, really hard. I say: Viva la difference!
