When Schumacher cleaned up, was it the car, OR was it the driver?
When Hamilton cleaned up, was it the car, OR was it the driver?
Now F1's accompanying W series is facing a similar imponderable. Jamie Chadwick won the first two championships and now has a commanding lead in the third W Series championship.
With identical mech/aero spec cars, the only adjustments the team mechanics are permitted are ride height, caster, camber, roll stiffness, and damper settings.
Series fans who had imagined an all-women field might produce a more equable spread of results are suggesting that Jamie does not belong there now and 'should' move to another race series.
Jamie raced Aston Martins in 2015, winning Britain's GT4 championship, when she was 17. She may win the next three W Series championships. The way for teams and rival drivers to get rid of her is to beat her soundly over the next three years. Women in serious motor racing are so few in number that there are bound to be, statistically very very few drivers of equal ability.
Why is she winning? Jamie's style is closer to a Prost or a Schumi than to a Senna. And, she has rivals who are more exciting to watch, just as has been the case in F1.
It's the driver.
--- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
* Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)

Series fans who had imagined an all-women field might produce a more equable spread of results are suggesting that Jamie does not belong there now and 'should' move to another race series.

Isn't that the whole point of the series? If she's dominating she should be getting a shot further up the food chain.
--- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
* Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)

On Saturday, July 2, 2022 at 2:22:33 PM UTC-7, XYXPDQ wrote:

Series fans who had imagined an all-women field might produce a more equable spread of results are suggesting that Jamie does not belong there now and 'should' move to another race series.

Isn't that the whole point of the series? If she's dominating she should be getting a shot further up the food chain.

In principle. But the W Series is totally funded, costing the drivers nothing. F3 and F2 require bankrolls.
A couple of the top W drivers have commented that in other monoposto classes they quit mid-season because could not assemble enough sponsorship, despite winning some races and getting fastest laps, while "A numbskull who has never scored better than 10th has funding every year, all year, from the same sponsors who refused me."
I've heard in Moto3 m'cycle racing something similar, "I had the same lap times as the winner, but his father knows someone, and he gets the funding and I am broke."
--- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
* Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)