13-time Grand Prix winner David Coulthard has rubbished claims that women don’t have the physical capabilities to compete in Formula 1.

Coulthard is well-placed to comment on female participation in motorsport as co-founder of More than Equal, an initiative dedicated to unearthing and developing the first female F1 world champion.

More than Equal has taken a scientific, data-driven approach to addressing gender imbalances in motorsport, and its young cohort of development drivers has undergone a regime of physical, psychological and driving-based training.

The initiative has a gender-focused approach to developing its young racing athletes, acknowledging that young women develop in a completely different way from adolescent males.

Some critics believe that female drivers don’t have the physical capabilities to cope with the demands of F1, an intriguing notion that would be widely discredited by many.

For instance, the summer Olympics is a global showcase of the incredible physical achievements both male and female athletes can achieve.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Coulthard said of the prospects of a female driver racing again in F1: “Of course it will happen. Without question.”

On the topic of physical readiness, Coulthard rubbished any claims that a female driver wouldn’t be able to compete in F1.

“It’s utter bulls*** that women don’t have the strength to do it,” he said. 

“Anyone who doesn’t train doesn’t have what it takes to perform in motor racing — whether you’re a man or a woman.

“An untrained person doesn’t have the strength to do anything. 

“I’m 53 and I wouldn’t be able to drive an F1 car quickly for more than 10 laps in my physical condition, now that I’m on the other side of my peak fitness. 

“I had to train like an athlete twice a day, with a trainer, for years to be able to do my job.

“One of the things I saw with the W series was that we took the best women available to try and qualify to become part of the championship — and some of them just weren’t fit enough. I looked at them, going: ‘What’s your excuse for not training? You have to present yourself as being serious as a pro and that means training like an athlete.’

“Therein lies the issue. There’s no physical reason they can’t do it. 

“We know what it takes to be physically strong enough to be a racing driver and all of the data shows that women comfortably fit within that category of physical performance.”

The stopwatch will determine when women compete in F1

Assessing the landscape of female competitors in motorsport at the present moment, Coulthard pondered “the main thing is, are the ones driving right now good enough to make it? It’s not an opinion. It will be based on lap times.

“Ultimately, it’s the stopwatch that dictates things.”

Coulthard argues that the moment a female driver showcases the necessary speed to be worthy of an F1 opportunity, teams will jump at that chance.

“You can either do a fast lap time or you can’t,” he said.

“And, if that is the case, as I say to my son, you can join a long line of people with good excuses as to why they didn’t do a specific lap time — why this, why that. 

“Sport is about delivery.

“It’s not my opinion that there will be a woman in F1, It’s just a fact, but I can’t tell you right now who that person is. 

“I assure you that every single F1 team would sign someone up right now, if they thought they could get that person.”

Coulthard’s programme is in memory of his late sister

Coulthard’s More than Equal programme was born out of the memory of his late sister, Lynsay, who sadly passed away in 2013.

Lynsay was a successful karter herself, six years Coulthard’s junior but the family couldn’t afford to support both of their racing careers.

More than Equal will now provide drivers with the opportunity Coulthard’s sister Lynsay didn’t get.

“My sister raced karts,” Coulthard said. 

“She was fast, talented, won races, but she was six years younger than me and started racing at eight.

“When I moved on to cars, I got signed to Paul Stewart racing, and was then tested for Williams at 18, 19 years old. 

“We were then off on this magic carpet ride of European racing and, a few years later, I was an F1 driver. 

“So she just never got the support. She eventually stopped racing.

“I spoke to her about it a lot and she never resented it at all. 

“I just feel that she wasn’t given the same crack at it. 

“I can’t say she would ever have been a Formula One driver — who knows? 

“I can say, however, that she was talented enough to take that talent to some level of professionalism.

“So, my belief that women can compete in motor racing is based on personal experience — not on some sort of guilt or ideology.

“I’m invested in the growth of women in the sport in memory of my sister — who didn’t get to take the opportunities that I got, because the family couldn’t support us both. 

“I got the momentum, I always think that she never got the chance, so I have invested time, effort and money not in any one individual, but in a new system and science-based programme to have more of a data-driven approach.

“I believe in the ability for women to compete on an equal level in motor racing, but we just haven’t had anyone who has had exceptional talent. It’s this desire to have the exceptional that drives the teams forward.”

The female talent pool needs to grow in motorsport

One of the first actions Coulthard’s More than Equal programme took was to conduct global research into why female racing drivers weren’t prominent.

A key result of that research was the participation levels.

In 2023, More than Equal published its research which showed just 13 per cent of all karters are female.

For a female driver to reach F1, that percentage needs to grow to widen the talent pool.

The bigger the talent pool, the more likely an F1 gem will emerge.

Programmes like More than Equal are supporting this growth and the global visibility of the all-female F1 Academy series is also promoting an increased participation in karting by female drivers.

READ MORE – Exclusive: Kate Beavan on tackling the motorsport status quo with More Than Equal