The creation of a separate world championship for women would be a retrograde step, according to the guests on this week’s F1 Midweek Report.
Bernie Ecclestone sparked debate this week by revealing that he had floated the idea of an all-female F1 series to run in run during grands prix weekends to team bosses.
While two teams, Williams and Lotus, currently have female test drivers on their books, only two women have ever raced in F1, with the most recent, Italy’s Lella Lombardi, starting the last of her 12 grands prix in 1976.
Debating the issue, F1 Midweek Report guests John Watson and Mark Hutcheson agreed that if a female driver was deemed good enough then she should be able to compete against the men.
“At the end of the day if you’re good enough it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female,” Hutcheson, who has worked for both Red Bull and Marussia as a race engineer, said.
"If you’re good enough and able to compete in the highest level, and you have the budget, then why should you not do it? Why should you need a separate championship?"
Five-time race winner Watson raced against Lombardi in F1 and said she was regarded by her peers as simply another driver on the grid. However, he doesn’t currently believe any female racers are good enough to make the cut.
“She didn’t have the most competitive car but she was a competitor and nobody looked upon her as being a woman or she was competing against men – you’re a racing driver," Watson said of Lombardi.
Lotus's development driver Carmen Jorda drove in GP3 for three seasons
“If there’s a good enough woman to be a Formula 1 racing driver they would be in Formula 1 right now. We have had a woman Prime Minister, is it so difficult to get a woman who is good enough to be a current Formula 1 driver? Presently, it is [the case].”
While Danica Patrick has been a high-profile female racing in top level racing in America for the past decade, youngsters Louise Richardson, Alice Powell and former Red Bull junior Beitske Visser are among those to currently be competing in Europe’s junior categories.
Hutcheson reckons it’s only a matter of time before another female driver takes to the F1 grid.
“In the junior formula now, compared to 10 or 15 years ago, there are more woman taking part. So I think it will happen,” he said.
“As they come up through the ranks some will make it, some won’t, and some will get to a reasonable standard in terms of being competitive or in terms of the championship. It will happen, it just hasn’t happened yet.”
In any case, while Ecclestone’s suggestion of a parallel all-female series has divided opinion, Watson reckons the idea represents one of the F1 supremo’s ruses.
“Bernie is the son of a trawler man – he knows a red herring when he sees it. It’s just typical Bernie,” the ex-McLaren driver added.
You can hear more from John and Mark when they join Natalie Pinkham to debate all the big talking points from the Malaysia GP weekend on this week's edition of F1 Midweek Report. The show's first airing is at 8.30pm on Wednesday, with the programme then repeated later in the evening and again on Friday at 7.30pm.
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