Tiff Needell has stormed in where few fear to tread, calling it as many see it with regards to female drivers making it into Formula 1
As powers that be try and flog the sexist, women-only championship to fans by overhyping the series way beyond what it deserves in this quest for a female driver to make it onto the F1 grid and win races, which is the basic objective of every driver.
The apparent obsession to get a female driver into F1 has taken a strange turn as the powers that be at FOM launched an F1 Academy exclusively for women. Where the level of drivers is generally back of the grid in normal Formula 4 events. Most of the females are there because they are marketable. And apart from one or maybe two, not very good at all.
And marketing is what F1 is doing to be politically correct and be seen to be pushing the equality card; elevating the series referred to as 'Formula Suzi' in certain circles, to undeserving levels. As 'Mrs Toto Wolff' runs what is essentially the now defunct W-Series with some new stickers.
F1 of course are punting this project as the next big thing. But a woman going to F1 through the Academy is the doomed-to-fail dream, when it is clear, on evidence of the opening weekend in Jeddah, these young ladies have a great deal to learn and for sure not a Max Verstappen among them. Not even a Logan Sargeant, for that matter, by very, very, very far.
None are going to win Grand Prix races ever. Watching them in action would be laughable if not sad when compared to what the real kids on the real road to F1 are doing.
Why is F1 Academy aka Formula Suzi Wolff getting so much air time
The unwarranted promotion of this series by FOM through their content assets is overwhelming. Far more than they are doing for Formula 2 and Formula 1.
Basically taking this lowest rung of the 'racing ladder' to the top flight, which F1 Academy really is, and puts it above the exposure afforded the real F1 feeder racing - the FIA F2 and FIA F3 series - where the true talent of the future lies, aka Ollie Bearman and company.
Not helped by over-enthusiastic commentators daring to compare the racing to F1. Simply devaluing and downplaying the sport to make excuses for the woeful racing they have to call to push this agenda.
Furthermore, it must be said, there are many, many more women worthy of sitting on the F1 Academy grid simply on merit and results earned racing against men in "non-sexist" series, than the 16 they have on show this season.
Many females, fully focused on making it on merit, are overlooked because they are simply not marketable enough or don't fit the FOM agenda for a female race driver.
Thankfully there are reputable pundits out there not hindered by contracts or NDAs who call it as they see it, warts and all. Needell is one of those and did so in the latest Fuelling Around podcast. The respected former F1 driver and all-around motor racing eminence shared his thoughts.
Needell: Nowadays you’ve just gotta have huge money
On how drivers can make it into F1, women included, Needell cut straight to the chase: “Nowadays you’ve just gotta have huge money. It annoys me that we’re accusing motorsport of being sexist, and anti-women and women don’t get a chance.
"It’s complete rubbish. In British Formula 1 I had Desire Wilson racing against me. She was brilliant, a really top female driver. Neither of us was perhaps good enough to become Ferrari F1 drivers, or whatever, at the time but she was really quick."
Referencing Desire Wilson, Needell was referring to the South African driver who is the only female to ever win an official F1 race when she won the Brands Hatch round of the 1980 Aurora F1 Championship. Running F1 cars from teams like Williams and March, of the previous seasons.
Wilson emigrated to the USA where she drove Group C in its heyday including the brute Porsche 935 and is acknowledged as not only as the best woman driver of her generation but also respected among her male rivals on sheer merit.
Needell continued: “There’s always been women in motorsport and in my mind, we’ve always encouraged them. Sometimes there’s a bit of wheel banging; I don’t want to be beaten by the girl but the girl doesn’t want to be beaten by the man.
“They’re obsessed that Formula 1 is anti-women. The point is, all these kids and boys, they’re there because their parents, in the beginning, have either got business associates or they are millionaires so they’ve got money. It’s not the sport that is stopping women.
“The boys are all there. Out in Formula 4 UAE now, there’s about 40 kids out there doing Formula 4 and Formula Regional, 14 and 15-year-olds, because their Dads are paying for it, or Dad’s associates," added Needell.
How good are F1 Academy drivers and how did they do in the recent UAE F4 Championship?
In the 2024 UAE F4 series earlier this year contested by 40 drivers, these are the Stats for the females selected for the F1 Academy:
- Dorian Pin was easily the best female finishing winning a race and ending P10 in the UAE F4 championship despite missing a race. She dominated proceedings at the F1 Academy season-opener in Jeddah, and would have won both races had she stopped lapping when she got the chequered flag after winning Race 2.
- Aurelia Nobels finished P32, P25, P25, P19, Ret and P26 in the two race weekends she contested.
- Tina Hausman finished Ret, P27 and P21 in the one weekend she did.
- Carrie Scheiner finished P28, P23, P23, P21, P21, P25, P28, P28 and Ret in her three race weekends.
“The other problem with getting a girl or a woman into Formula 1, there’s a queue of people just sitting there going: how about me? How about me?" added 72-year-old Needell.
For those living under a rock, for their information Tiff spent the formative years of his racing career in Formula Ford, winning the FF16000 championship in 1975 and finishing as runner-up in the FF2000 series the following year, when he won the premier Grovewood Award.
After brief spells in Formula 5 and the Aurora F1/F2 championship, Needell's Grand Prix ambitions were thwarted in 1979, when he was refused a superlicence to drive the Ensign, although he was to get his opportunity in 1980.
By then, Tiff had extended his repertoire to encompass Japanese Formula 2, touring cars, the Procar series and sports car racing, where he was to remain active throughout the eighties and nineties, latterly with the Lister Storm.
It is his successful career as a journalist and broadcaster, however, for which he is now best known having taken part in hit tv shows, the old Top Gear, and The Fifth Gear, to mention a couple.
Big Question: Are the powers that be at FOM too obsessed with getting a female driver into F1?
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