It folded after three seasons but it brought drivers back to racing, gave girls role models and prompted F1 into action
The all-female W Series had grand plans to change the landscape of motor racing, all bold and ambitious, but just over a week ago, when it was placed into administration, the championship was all but over. Out of money and out of time it foundered to a halt, an ignominious end to worthy aspirations. Yet across the three short seasons it ran the W Series left its mark on racing. It may be gone but it undoubtedly made a difference.
In 2019, at the Brands Hatch finale of the inaugural season, it was impossible not to notice the impact of the nascent championship. The paddock thronged with families and crucially hundreds of young girls, drawn to watch and meet the role models that had previously been so few and far between in racing. It was a moment of particular vindication and pleasure for the series’ chief executive, Catherine Bond Muir, who had put three years into building a project that was close to her heart.
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