by Issie Jones
History was made this week at the Circuito del Jarama in Madrid, thanks to the first all-female testing session held by an FIA championship.
The three-hour pre-season testing session was aimed at providing a pathway for elite female drivers to not only showcase their talent but also develop their skills and careers via machinery that they otherwise wouldn’t have had an opportunity to use at this level. It was compulsory for the FE teams to select at least one female driver, with the FIA encouraging them to choose two. Out of eleven teams, only four opted to select one woman.
📸 Carrie Schreiner ran for Maserati in the test but was among the familiar names in the paddock.
In total, eighteen drivers had the chance to drive the new cars for the 2024-2025 Formula E championship. The cars driven were season 11 Gen3 EVO race cars, capable of 0-60mph in just 1.82 seconds, which is actually 30% faster than the current F1 cars!
The fastest driver was the current leader of the F1 Academy standings, Abbi Pulling. Racing for Nissan, she improved throughout the session to beat the early leaders, Simona de Silvestro and Jamie Chadwick. Pulling had never driven a Formula E car before the session, so it is safe to say it was impressive that her best time was only 3 seconds slower than the fastest time set throughout the entire test.
📸 Abbi Pulling went fastest overall for Nissan.
Second place was taken by three-time W series champion Jamie Chadwick, who represented Jaguar TCS racing. By the end of the afternoon, Chadwick’s best time was only three tenths off Pulling’s. The top three were completed by Bianca Bustamante, a current F1 Academy racer and McLaren development driver.
📸 Jamie Chadwick was a race winner in Indy NXT this year and featured for Jaguar.
Drivers also had the opportunity to take part in other activities, such as press conferences, interviews, and social media content creation, all in the name of preparing them for later opportunities in the industry.
A ‘Girls on Track’ event occurred in tandem with the pre-season testing. Around 400 young women were invited to the track in Madrid to learn about different aspects and opportunities within motorsport through workshops and behind-the-scenes access.
Although the test was not televised, fans accessed content and updates about it through social media; hundreds of people tuned into Formula E’s broadcasting channel and website to catch updates about key events happening throughout the session.
📸 Miki Koyama became the first woman to win an FIA sanctioned all gender single seater racing series in 2022 in Japanese Formula Regional.
All in all, the session was a success and an amazing step in the right direction for the inclusion of women in motorsport. The test served as an incredible opportunity for aspiring female drivers and an exciting reminder to all female fans of motorsport that changes towards equality in racing are happening.
📸 Image credits: ABB FIA Formula E.
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