In light of the latest tweak to the FIA’s eligibility regulations, a future update could be what’s needed to create a groundbreaking opportunity in F1 for a female driver
TREVOR CARLIN
With the news that the FIA has updated its Appendix L of the International Sporting Code to add flexibility to its superlicence requirements for drivers under 18, the superlicence points system has been called into question once again. I agree that there needs to be a framework in place to control who can drive what and when. However, the current system is imperfect and the latest update is in a way an admission of that.
That current system was introduced for 2016, to prevent a repeat of the ‘Max Verstappen scenario’ – in other words a 17-year-old with just one season of car racing under their belt going straight into Formula 1. However, that ‘solution’ did not encompass the full picture.
Max had been driving some form of vehicle since he was three, and he had been karting competitively for 10 years or more. Under the current rules he would therefore have scored just 20 superlicence points – a result of him finishing third in the 2014 FIA Formula 3 European Championship – and he would also have been too young for F1. But all he need have done is race one more year in F3, finishing top-three again, and he would have been in anyway. What was the best preparation for him for F1: another year of F3 or a year in F1 with a small team?
The superlicence points system was created to encourage drivers to participate in the full ladder of junior racing – to gain experience, to prove themselves, and to prevent moneyed drivers from buying F1 seats. Those ‘pay drivers’, although not necessarily the fastest in the world, had always provided much-needed funding to keep smaller teams alive, so they used to be essential. However, those days are mainly over, because F1 teams are now sufficiently funded, and the focus has therefore shifted towards their running the fastest drivers. I say “mainly over” but there are still a few anomalies when you take into account wealthy team owners’ and/or sponsors’ wishes, which allow a few slightly less able drivers still to find their way in.
One driver who has won superlicence-qualifying championships but was still not awarded the full allocation of superlicence points is Britain’s Jamie Chadwick, who won three consecutive titles in the now defunct W Series – yet, because the path to F1 still remained nigh-on impossible for her, she was forced to h
