Alpine pledges to bring female driver to F1

F1

Alpine commits funding and training to bring a female driver to Formula 1 within the next ten years

Abbi Pulling in Alpine F1 car

W Series racer Abbi Pulling already works with Alpine, but the Rac(H)er programme is looking to recruit a younger generation

Alpine

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Alpine has launched a project to find and train the next female Formula 1 driver, dedicating “significant resources” to the goal.

Announced today, the Rac(H)er programme will identify promising young female karters and put them through a physical and mental training regime with the aim of moving them up the motor racing ladder from Formula 4 to Formula 1 within the next decade.

As part of the same scheme, the Alpine F1 team will also partner with the Paris Brain Institute in a bid to identify what makes a top-class racing driver. Alpine says that it wants to use the research to dispel the myth that women lack the competitive instinct to succeed.

“We are aware of the need for a profound transformation of both the sport and the industry so that all talents can flourish in the future,” said Laurent Rossi, Alpine’s CEO.

“By launching Rac(H)er, this long-term transformation programme, we hope to be joined by all the players in the sector, because it is only by uniting that we will be able to make real progress. And that would be our real success.”

It has been more than 30 years since Giovanna Amati became the fifth, and so far last, woman to enter a Formula 1 Grand Prix. Neither she nor her predecessors competed over a full season. Alpine says that its goal is to “lead the first woman into consistent F1 competition”.

It is already working with W Series racer Abbi Pulling, who benefits from career advice and training, but the new scheme is aimed at a younger generation.

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“Too often female talents are spotted and supported too late to pursue a long-term career at the highest level,” says Alpine. “Very few women have the financial support to make it through the ranks, nor the career guidance or pathways if they do get to the upper levels.”

The team, is looking to avoid these obstacles by recruiting karters “from an early age” and providing “significant and realistic financial support at each stage of their career”. A possible scenario envisages them racing in F4 in 2027, progressing to F2 by 2031, and then moving to F1 a year later.

A specific female-focused training programme will also be developed. “Some sports demonstrate that females are successful by following alternative physical training programmes and developing different skill sets to achieve similar levels of success to their male counterparts,” Alpine said. “We will work with experts in the field to analyse the precise, but very bespoke, attributes needed to ensure each individual’s peak condition within an F1 car.”

The programme will be run by Alpine’s Academy, and project manager Julian Rouse, said it would give women the same opportunity to succeed as men. “I completely believe there is no valid reason why a woman cannot make it to F1,” he said. “Not just make it to F1, but to prosper within the sport.

“What has been missing, however, is a solid plan and long-term investment. What we intend to do with the Rac(H)er programme is to invest in each element it takes to make an F1 driver; physical fitness, mental agility and a clear pathway. It is a completely equal treatment to that already demonstrated by and for male drivers, but with the results of each step able to be tailored to each individual to fully realise their potential.”

Females only make up 12% of the current Alpine F1 workforce and the Rac(H)er programme will also see greater support of students and new recruits to increase diversity with the aim of boosting that proportion to 30% within five years.

Earlier this month, Alpine said that it was working to combat a male-dominated culture of “banter” among employees.

Several other teams are also taking similar steps. McLaren is investing in education and mentoring to promote F1 as a career option for under-represented groups, while Mercedes has partnered with the Stemettes social enterprise to encourage more female students in to motor sport. Ferrari already has two female drivers, Laura Camps Torras and Maya Weug, in its Driver Academy.