W Series, Start, Zolder, 2019

W Series adds new F1 support races in USA and Mexico

2020 F1 season

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All-female championship W Series has added two new rounds which will support races on the 2020 F1 calendar.

W Series will appear on the F1 support bill at the United States and Mexican Grands Prix which are held on back-to-back weekends in October. The races will form the final two races of the championship’s eight-round season.

“We at W Series are absolutely delighted that, in only our second season, our championship has been welcomed by Formula 1, and we’re utterly thrilled that the final two races of the 2020 W Series season will therefore take place as part of the Formula 1 platform,” said CEO Catherine Bond Muir.

“Our two all-new races will follow six races on the DTM platform, making a very varied, extremely exciting and truly international eight-race championship, in eight countries across the globe. I’m particularly pleased that W Series will now stage races outside Europe, and the USA and Mexico are of course both very important new territories for us.”

The second running of the championship will begin at the new Igora Drive circuit in Russia on May 30th. The series’ inaugural champion Jamie Chadwick, who will defend her title this year, has been signed by Williams as a development driver.

Formula 1 motorsport director Ross Brawn said W Series “has contributed significantly to increasing interest in the topic of diversity and inclusion in motorsport.

“We are convinced that our sport must offer equal opportunities for men and women to compete together – it is no coincidence that improving the diversity of the F1 grid by supporting and promoting driver talent from under-represented backgrounds is one of our strategic objectives.”

2020 W Series cacalendar

RaceCircuitCountryDate
1Igora DriveRussia30th May
2AnderstorpSweden13th June
3MonzaItaly27th June
4NorisringGermany11th July
5Brands HatchUK23rd August
6AsenNetherlands5th September
7Circuit of the AmericasUSA24th October
8Autodromo Hermanos RodriguezMexico31st October

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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21 comments on “W Series adds new F1 support races in USA and Mexico”

  1. Now that’s good!

    Though I don’t doubt there will be those, who dislike the idea, but as for me – I said it even before the first season – they have to be a part of F1 weekend.

    1. Yes, @dallein, this is brilliant! Go Jamie!!

  2. Great news. But, please don’t let FOM steal the series from free to air.

  3. Great news. genuinely interested to see if females can hack it at the top level and it would be dynamite for the sport. Sooner or later the penny will drop for some corporate that wants to push their brand that backing a female into F1 would be pure gold.

    A female darts player one A game against a man and it was all over the news for days. ONE game and in DARTS !!

    1. “females”

      Women.

  4. This is a great news story for W Series, but the calendar now has huge gaps in it.

    There are 2 weeks (roughly) between each of the first 4 races, which is absolutely fine. Then there is a 6 week gap between race 4 and race 5 for the DTM summer break. Then it’s another 2 weeks to race 6 and then a whopping 7 weeks before the race at COTA.

    I anticipate that it will be tricky for the series to keep the momentum up from a PR/news perspective.

  5. Formula 1 motorsport director Ross Brawn said W Series “has contributed significantly to increasing interest in the topic of diversity and inclusion in motorsport.

    All of it is just politically correct cringe.

    As long as a woman doesn’t drive in the top of F4 and F3 events it will remain that way.
    We have already had women driving in F1, we have already had a female pointsscorer in F1.

    1. And those things last happened in the 70’s and 90’s respectively. Anything that can be done to increase the diversity of the F1 grid (whether it is the driver’s gender, race, nationality, socio-economic background) should be encouraged.

      1. But only if they get there on pure merit.

        Any free pass just because they are female in the name of ‘diversity’ is just as bad no diversity!

        1. If one of them were the daughter of a billionaire, who bought them a team to play with, would that okay?

        2. Because every F1 driver is there on merit ….
          Don’t forget there’s still F2 where they’ll still need to shine as W series awards 15 points, not enough for F1.

        3. No, it would be infinitely worse

      2. Why should it be encouraged? It shouldn’t be limited.

        This is motorracing, the most first world rich people sport in existence, this new wave of cultural puritan marxism isn’t going to change that ever.

        A billionaire buying a race team makes Lance Stroll about the most authentic racer we have had for decennia. Because racing is a rich mans game.

        And it’s not like this push for diversity is based on anything other than making more money through marketing and commercials.

        1. As a ps the most ironic thing is that racing takes place in dictatorships where people don’t even have human rights. That’s how much all these organisations are really concerned about ethics.
          The only thing that counts is cash.

    2. That’s a bit delusional, W series will be a good feeder to find female talents for F2.
      It’s a small help so just why not.

  6. Minor quip there @keithcollantine – it’s Assen (with two s-es)

    1. Easy to remember: one ass, two assen.

  7. Good news. I hope F1TV will broadcast those races, as there was no way for me to follow first season of the series. Would love to give it a chance.

    1. The races were/are on YouTube.

      1. Yeah, now, but they weren’t available for live-streaming.

  8. Fantastic! The boost the series needed! That ought to get a bit more coverage. Hopefully it’ll be broadcast here in Australia on Foxtel as the F2 and F3 races are. And hopefully we’ll see it picked up at some European races in years to come. The more exposure the better to get girls started in karts.

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