Toto Wolff, the Mercedes F1 executive director, believes a single-gender motor racing championship would “undermine” women and harm their prospects of making it to Formula One.
Plans have been drawn up by a London-based company to stage an inaugural women-only series which could be launched in 2019. The proposal intends to see women drivers compete at six races, with the champion promised a Formula One test drive.
Motor racing is the world’s biggest sport which does not offer an alternative for women to compete at standalone events. It has been more than 40 years since a woman entered a Formula One race, when the Italian Lella Lombardi joined the starting grid at the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix.
The group behind the proposal, which was circulated earlier this year, hope the series will offer women the chance to showcase their talents, but Wolff fears it could do the opposite.
“An all-women championship is giving up on the mission of eventually making girls compete on a high level and against the boys in Formula One,” Wolff said. “It is undermining what girls are able to achieve.
“When a sport comes down to physical power, then it definitely needs to be split between men and women, but motor racing is a little bit like horse riding where we fight with the same tools. I believe that motor racing is a sport where women can take on men.”
Susie Wolff, who is married to the Mercedes chief, was a development and reserve driver for Williams and took part in four grands prix practice sessions – but she retired in 2015 when it became evident she would not be provided with a full-time race seat by the British team. The Scot has gone on to set up the Dare To Be Different campaign which inspires female participation in motor sport.
“What we lack is more girls in karting,” Wolff said. “If you look at 100 kids there will be three girls. Susie’s movement is out there to encourage more girls to start karting so the ratio changes from three in one hundred to 20:80.
“We have seen occasional performances from girls which have been strong, but we need more of them and then eventually we will have girls competing at a high level and they will be competitive enough to enter Formula One.”
A number of leading women drivers – racing in Britain, Europe and the US – have been approached by organisers about the series, but some are understood to be sceptical and believe a single-gender championship may compromise their position within the industry.
The London-born Pippa Mann, who has spent most of her professional motor racing career in the United States and started alongside the two-times Formula One champion Fernando Alonso at this year’s Indianapolis 500, described plans for the championship as “ridiculous”.
She said: “I know many female racers, several of them race winners, in normal non-segregated series who are no longer able to race due to lack of funding. Yet these people think spending money on segregation is the answer.
“Here’s the thing, this group actually has this much money to help support female racers? Well then let’s actually use it to support talented female racers, help them stay in, or get back in racing cars in series across the globe.”