F1 News

Williams to rethink "critical" stance on W Series

22 May 2019 at 09:30
  • Bobby Vincent

Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams has admitted she has revised her view of the all-women junior single-seater W Series following a visit to the first race of the season in Hockenheim.

She admitted that she had previously been "critical" of the W Series before she went to see it for herself. 

"I suppose I was somewhat reserved but somewhat critical of it in that I was worried it was a regressive step for women in motorsport and the promotion of that purely from a segregation perspective," Williams said to RaceFans. 

"At the moment, our sport allows women to compete against men on a Sunday afternoon, unlike so many other sports: was creating a single championship for women only a regressive step?"

Williams explained that going to watch the first round of the W Series in Hockenheim was "good education for me".

"I thought it was fantastic," Williams continued. "The very fact that they've managed to get a whole new championship, regardless if it's for men or women, off the ground in a short space of time, was pretty impressive. Organisationally, it seemingly went very smoothly.

"And just to see a whole line of cars on the grid knowing that they were piloted for women was, I think, a historic moment. It was fantastic to see. It gives a platform for women that they don't have at the moment. And if anything accelerates the process of promoting women in motosport, I think that can only be considered a good thing."

Williams recently hired Jamie Chadwick to its roster.