W Series, the international single-seater championship for female drivers, will end its 2021 season with a double-header at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. Rounds seven and eight, on 23 and 24 October, support the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix and are the series’ first races outside Europe.
Launched in October 2018, W Series is free to enter. Drivers are selected on ability alone, not on the wealth of their backers, and the cars are mechanically identical. The series aims to remove the financial barriers that have kept women from the upper levels of motorsport. It is 45 years since a woman last started a Formula 1 World Championship Grand Prix.
Title fight
After six rounds, Alice Powell (Racing X, GBR) and defending champion Jamie Chadwick (Veloce Racing, GBR) are level on 109 points. Powell is ahead with three wins to Chadwick’s two. Emma Kimilainen (Ecurie W, FIN) is third, 34 points behind, with a maximum of 50 points left from the two races in Austin.
Jessica Hawkins (Racing X, GBR) will also be in the spotlight, after making her big-screen debut as a stunt driver in the new James Bond film, No Time to Die, released in the US on 8 October.