Aston Martin ambassador and racing driver Jess Hawkins has predicted that the Formula 1 grid will have a female driver within “a few years”,
Women’s participation in Motorsport has gained considerable momentum in the last decade, with F1’s latest journey starting back in 2014 when Suzie Wolff tested for Williams at Silverstone. She was the first woman in 24 years to take part in a Grand Prix weekend.
With female drivers making appearances in junior formulas, such as Tatiana Calderon, the all female W Series was launched in 2019, its collapse in 2023 leading to the creation of F1 Academy.
Today, more aspiring female racing drivers are appearing as a result, with the likes of W Series champion Jamie Chadwick, and F1 Academy champion Abbi Pulling taking over the mantle from Wolff and Calderon.
F1 Academy is now a support race across the year for F1, with its exposure more than any previous women in motorsport initiative.
Hawkins, a former W Series driver herself, believes this momentum is building towards a full-time female F1 driver, highlighting her belief this will happen, but believes the feat will be accomplished in the short term.
“I think we’re a few years away from it. But I do believe it will happen,” she said on the Road to Success podcast.
“I would be a fraud if I sat here and said I didn’t think that would happen because I do believe it. If I were to say no, it would go against everything I stand for.”
“I am absolutely convinced women are strong enough for Formula 1,” she continued. “I’m convinced, having driven one myself for half a race distance, I could have done a whole race distance.
“My neck was struggling. My neck was really struggling. But I think every single person’s first time in a Formula 1 car, their neck struggled. That wasn’t because I was a female.
“That was also because I hadn’t been racing in a Formula 2 championship leading up to it. I hadn’t been racing in a Formula 3 championship right before it. Even the Formula 1 drivers, their first time back in a year, their neck is probably sore at the end of the day. That wasn’t because I was a female. I could have done a race distance if it wasn’t for my neck.”
Jess Hawkins praises F1 Academy
Hawkins praised the impact of F1 Academy, highlighting the precious track time offered to its drivers, a commodity in Formula 1 and the wider racing world today.
“It is different now because if you look at F1 Academy, wow, I could have only dreamt of that at my age,” she said.
“And some of them probably don’t realise what it was like even just a few years ago. I think the championship has the ability to really make some drivers.
“Some drivers will go into it, and they’ll sink. Some drivers will go into it, and they’ll swim.
“And the ones that swim, they’re the ones that are good enough to go up and fight for these Formula 1 seats and fight for opportunities within motorsport.”
Hawkins’ belief that a full-time female driver is only a few years away will likely give further hope to aspiring drivers at a time when momentum is building behind the movement.
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