The W Series

(For a more detailed discussion of Speedqueens’ stance on W Series and a review of the TV show, click here.)

The inaugural W Series championship ran in the summer of 2019. It was billed as the first-ever all-female single-seater championship. (The Esso All-Ladies Formula Ford race in 1985 was actually the first.)

Eighteen drivers were chosen to race Formula 3 Regional cars, with two “reserve” drivers who were intended to deputise for injured colleagues and only took part in a few actual races.

There were six championship races of roughly half an hour each, plus one non-championship race which ran using a reverse-grid format. The series acted as one of the supports for the DTM in Europe.

W Series was launched with a huge media drive, with former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard acting as one of its public figureheads. He was also one of the judges for the initial driver selection events. Lyn St. James, who had previously been pivotal in the similar Women’s Global GT Series, was another. 60 racers from all round the world were assessed; through a combination of elimination and voluntary dropping-out, this was whittled down to 20. All 20 selected drivers would have all of their expenses paid for the summer racing season and would receive a share of the $2m prize pot.

There is nothing especially innovative about an all-female racing series but W Series did introduce some relatively novel concepts, including the no-cost nature of entry. Drivers were made to swap cars after every race and worked with a different team of mechanics every day. This was ostensibly to prevent the more mechanically-minded among them from gaining an advantage. Prohibitions were also placed on testing and competing in F3 cars during the W season. No driver was permitted to take part in an F3 race on any of the six circuits the series visited, unless she was fully signed up for that championship. Testing was not allowed. Drivers were allowed limited sessions on a simulator to prepare prior to a race weekend. There were no competing teams; all cars were run centrally by Hitech Grand Prix on behalf of W Series itself.

Many were critical of the whole idea, chiefly Indycar driver Pippa Mann and European F3 racer Sophia Floersch. Both drivers, along with others, considered it a step towards sex segregation in motorsport and believed that the money involved would have been better spent supporting female racers in existing championships. Some of this criticism died down but a few concerns arose during the season about safety and standards of car preparation. Jamie Chadwick, Alice Powell and others experienced difficulty downshifting under full steering lock in some of the Tatuus FRegional cars, for example. 

Early indications were that W Series was intended as a reality TV-style competition. The first set of driver assessments took place in the unlikely setting of a frozen track and used road cars, not a situation likely to arise in an F3 championship. Announcements of who had made the cut and who would have to “fight for their place” had a distinctly X Factor flavour. However, the races themselves proved popular with spectators as a sporting contest and W became more of a serious competition than when it started. The organisers attempted to mix things up a little by dropping a struggling Megan Gilkes to reserve status after a free practice session where she had been relatively quick, but this proved highly unpopular and was not repeated.

Jamie Chadwick was the first champion, winning two of the six races. This was not unexpected as she was the entrant with the most notable and recent successes on her CV. BMW junior driver Beitske Visser was second. Alice Powell, winner of the final round at Brands Hatch, was third although she could have finished higher had she not encountered a series of car problems. The other races were won by Marta Garcia and Emma Kimilainen. Megan Gilkes won the reverse-grid non-championship race from pole.

2019 Standings

1. Jamie Chadwick
2. Beitske Visser
3. Alice Powell
4. Marta Garcia
5. Emma Kimilianen
6. Fabienne Wohlwend
7. Miki Koyama
8. Sarah Moore
9. Vicky Piria
10. Tasmin Pepper
11. Jessica Hawkins
12. Sabre Cook
13. Caitlin Wood
14. Gosia Rdest
15. Esmee Hawkey
16. Naomi Schiff
17. Vivien Keszthelyi (Reserve)
18. Shea Holbrook
19. Sarah Bovy (Reserve)
20. Megan Gilkes

The top twelve 2019 drivers were automatically invited back for the 2020 season. Any of the eight additional 2019 intake were permitted to reapply for 2020, alongside 15 new drivers. The season was cancelled due to coronavirus.

The 2021 championship was won again by Jamie Chadwick. Eighteen cars started each race, with a rotating series of reserve drivers sharing one of them. The series was now on the F1 support bill and ran for eighth races.

1. Jamie Chadwick

2. Alice Powell

3. Emma Kimilainen

4. Nerea Marti

5. Sarah Moore

6. Fabienne Wohlwend

7. Abbi Pulling

8. Beitske Visser

9. Irina Sidorkova

10. Belen Garcia

11. Jessica Hawkins

12. Marta Garcia

13. Abbie Eaton

14. Miki Koyama

15. Bruna Tomaselli

16. Caitlin Wood

17. Ayla Agren

18. Gosia Rdest

19. Vicky Piria

20. Sabre Cook

The third W Series season was intended to be a ten-round championship, with double-header rounds at the US and Mexican grands prix. A planned race at Suzuka was substituted for Singapore. In an unusual move, the usual W Formula Regional cars were not transported to Catalunya and the similar cars from the Toyota Racing Series were used instead. This was repeated at Singapore. The Singapore race ended up as the least of the season, as money problems meant that the last three races were cancelled.

A team system of sorts was introduced. All cars were run centrally, but pairs of cars carried branded liveries.

Jamie Chadwick dominated once more, with Alice Powell and Beitske Visser picking up one win apiece.

1. Jamie Chadwick (Jenner Racing)

2. Beitske Visser (Sirin Racing)

3. Alice Powell (Click2Drive Bristol Street Racing)

4. Abbi Pulling (Racing X)

5. Belen Garcia (Quantfury W Series Team)

6. Marta Garcia (CortDAO W Series Team)

7. Nerea Marti (Quantfury W Series Team)

8. Emma Kimilainen (Puma W Series Team)

9. Jessica Hawkins (Click2Drive Bristol Street Racing)

10. Fabienne Wohlwend (CortDAO W Series Team)

11. Sarah Moore (Scuderia W)

12. Bruna Tomaselli (Racing X)

13. Abbie Eaton (Scuderia W)

14. Juju Noda (W Series Academy)

15. Bianca Bustamante (W Series Academy)

16. Chloe Chambers (Jenner Racing)

17. Emely de Heus (Sirin Racing)

18. Tereza Babickova (Puma W Series Team)

19. Ayla Agren* (Puma W Series Team)

*Ayla Agren stood in for Tereza Babickova at Singapore after she injured her back in a Formula Regional Europe race.

This proved to be the last W Sseries season, as the championship ran into serious financial difficulties and went into administration.

(Image copyright Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

Alice Powell

Alice Powell graduated to full-size cars in 2007, at the age of fourteen. This came after a successful karting career, which began when she was six, and she was competing at eight. She won her club’s championship in her first year of competition, then went on to top-ten performances in BRDC Stars of Tomorrow and JICA competition.

Alice was one of the second wave of young drivers to take advantage of the rise in junior full-circuit racing. She contested the Ginetta Juniors Winter Series early on, driving a Ginetta G20, and was joint fifth after three races. Later, she drove in the last few rounds of the main Ginetta Junior championship, and was 16th overall. This was in addition to two karting series.

She returned to Ginetta competition in 2008, for the main season, leaving karts behind. Her best finishes were two seconds, at Knockhill and Silverstone, plus two thirds and a string of top tens: 16 out of her 24 races finished in the top ten. She was ninth in the championship.

In 2009 she switched to single-seaters, beginning in the UK Formula Renault championship. Her team was the experienced Manor Competition. However, Alice had not had the budget for much testing. Despite a slow beginning, she was breaking into the top ten by round five, with a ninth place at Donington. Gradually, her pace increased, although her good straight-line speed did not always turn into good race positions. After a disappointing off at Snetterton from seventh place, she only made slow progress up the leaderboard, with an eleventh at Brands Hatch being her next-best score. She was 18th overall.

In the middle of her Formula Renault programme, she made a guest appearance in the Brands Hatch Formula Palmer Audi round. Her three races gave her a seventh, ninth and eleventh place. 

She moved down to the BARC Formula Renault championship in 2010, a club-level series. Here, she became the first female driver to win a Formula Renault championship, after winning two races, at Silverstone and Thruxton. She also scored five second places, and was never out of the top ten. BARC Formula Renault was interspersed with a part-season in the Ginetta G50 Cup. Her best finish was fifth, at Brands Hatch, with two sevenths at Croft, and eighths at Brands and Rockingham, her other highlights. She was 16th overall.

At the end of the year, she drove in the Formula Renault Winter Series, having secured some funds for testing. Although this went well, Alice did not have the pace to challenge for the top positions. Her results were a seventh, and eighth, a ninth and a tenth, with two DNFs at Pembrey. She was twelfth overall. 

In 2011, she raced in Formula Renault once more, running mainly in the British championship, and entering two North Europe series events. In Britain, she was much stronger than in 2009, finishing seventh in her first race at Brands Hatch. At Donington, she broke into the top five for the first time. Her best finish was fourth, at Snetterton, and she was rarely out of the top ten. The only thing she did not get was podium finishes, and she was ninth overall. In the NEZ championship, she was eighth and tenth in her two races at Oschersleben.

As well as this, she travelled to India for the two-round MRF Formula 1600 championship, supporting the Indian Grand Prix, and was second after two podiums, a second and a third. She also had guest runs in the BARC Production Touring Car Trophy (Class B) and Radical Clubmans Cup, which resulted in a clean sweep of wins. She was driving a Fiat 500 Abarth in the Trophy. A further guest appearance in the Intersteps championship gave her one eighth place at Donington. During this year, she was selected for the BRDC’s Rising Star driver development programme, and won the BWRDC’s Gold Star Elite award.

In 2012, despite many accolades and considerable media attention, she struggled for sponsorship. At the last minute, she put together a deal for the GP3 international single-seater series. After only two days of testing, it proved a difficult learning curve: her first race ended in a DNF, then she was just out of the top ten at Catalunya and Monte Carlo. The rest of the year was punctuated by DNFs. It picked up slightly at Spa and Monza, where she was twelfth. However, by the end of the season, she had managed her first points finish: eighth at Monza. She was 19th overall.

After that, she went back to India for some rounds of the MRF Formula 2000 series. She scored a second and third at Buddh, and was fifth overall. 

In 2013, she planned to contest the GP3 championship again, although funding was an issue, and she only put together a deal at the last minute. She only actually managed two rounds of GP3, driving for Bamboo Engineering, alongside Carmen Jordá. Her results were two 20th places at Yas Marina.

The rest of the year was spent in Formula Three, mostly in the UK. This was somewhat of a step down for Alice again, but she took the opportunity and it paid off. Driving for Mark Bailey Racing, she was second in the MSV F3 Cup, with five wins, at Brands Hatch, Zolder, Silverstone and Oulton Park. Apart from a pair of DNFs at Snetterton, she was never out of the top five, and usually in the top three. She led the championship for much of the season, but a strong finish from Alex Craven caught her up. The non-finishes allowed this.

As well as the F3 Cup, she took part in three rounds of British Formula Three, winning her class twice.

There was more F3 for Alice in 2014. She made a guest appearance in the Rockingham round of the British championship, and was fifth and third in the two races she finished. At Rockingham, she also posted two class wins in the MSV series, as well as two class seconds, at Snetterton. However, most of her season was spent in Southeast Asia, contesting the Asian Formula Renault championship. This was an excellent season, with five wins, recorded at Zhuhai and Shanghai. Apart from one non-finish and one fifth place, both at Zhuhai, she was never off the podium, and she won the championship from Canadian Maxx Ebenal. 

Before her championship win was confirmed, Alice had some other excitement. Her grandfather attempted to broker a deal with the foundering Caterham Grand Prix team, in which he would effectively pay for a race seat for Alice in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. This would allow the team, then in administration, to complete the season. The deal did not go through, partly due to Alice not having a Superlicence, and no easy way of achieving one, in the short timescale available. 

2015 was a much quieter year. Mid-season, she took part in her first sportscar race, the Silverstone 24 Hours. Her car was a works Aston Martin Vantage GT4, shared with Marek Reihman, Andrew Palmer and Andrew Frankel. They were fourth in Class 3, and fifth overall. During the winter season, she went back to the Middle East for another run in the MRF Formula, racing at the Yas Marina circuit. Her best finish was eighth.

As well as racing, Alice has been a vocal advocate for women in motorsports, and is part of a new initiative begun by Susie Wolff, encouraging greater female participation.

Lack of finances limited her opportunities since the start of 2016.

At the end of 2018, she returned to the driving seat as a guest racer in the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy, which supports Formula E. She won the Pro-Am class and was fifth overall at ad-Diriyah, having showed her skill with some aggressive overtaking.

Her profile rose again mid-2019 when she was announced as one of the 20 drivers chosen for the inaugural W Series. From the start, Alice was one of its most enthusiastic exponents and she proved herself to be one of its quickest drivers, winning the final round at Brands Hatch. Had it not been for a series of car problems, she would probably have won more races.

After the W Series ended, she made a guest appearance for the all-female Heinricher Racing/Meyer Shank IMSA team, deputising for Christina Nielsen at Virginia. The team did not finish due to a crash.

In 2020, Alice planned to rejoin the W Series for its short summer season, although it ended up being cancelled due to coronavirus. She did compete for Team Germany in the Formula E-supporting Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy. Her first races as an official driver gave her two third places at ad-Diriyah. These were her best results of the year and she was fourth in the championship.

Not long after, she was announced as an official test driver for Envision Virgin Racing in Formula E.

Her second W Series season was a close-run contest with Jamie Chadwick. Alice was the early championship leader, winning two of the first three rounds at the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone. In the end, she scored one more win (at Zandvoort) to Jamie's two, and had to settle for second.

Her testing duties for Envision included a full race simulation at Valencia.

A third W Series season included another win at the Hungaroring, as well as three more podium finishes. She was third in the championship. She continued to test for the Virigin FE team, including driving the first two-seater Formula E car.

W Series folded due to financial difficulties in 2023. Alice did not race that year, although she continued her coaching and management and also worked extensively as a commentator. This continued in 2024, although she did take part in the Formula E Women's Test for Envision.

(Picture by Daniel Kalisz, copyright GP3 Media Service)