Flörsch’s comments come as inaugural F1 Academy champion Marta Garcia announced the likely end of her single-seater career.
Garcia won the 2023 F1 Academy title before moving into Formula Regional this season with a fully-funded drive with Iron Dames.
The 24-year-old recorded a best finish of 14th and finished 28th in the standings, without scoring a point.
“I’m a bit emotional as tomorrow is probably my last race in a single-seater. At least for the near future,” she wrote on social media ahead of last weekend’s event in Monza.
“I’m sad, I’m happy, I’m nostalgic. I’m actually with some tears writing this.
“I know all the long way it was to come where I am today and I’m so glad for every single time on track.
“My dream was always [to] get to F1 and this dream will stay forever in me.”
Having recently tested GT machinery, it’s believed Garcia will switch her focus to sportscars from next season.
Her single-seater fate prompted a response from Flörsch, a critic of W Series and F1 Academy .
In 2019, she derided W Series as “a marketing thing and, in my eyes, it’s not the way to help women in motorsport,” in an interview with Rheinische Post newspaper.
“For me, racing in the W Series would be a step back on a sporting level,” she said.
“I want to compete with the best in my sport, and the best drivers are men, so I want to race among the men. Only then can I get myself in the spotlight for a better category.
“I don’t want to be a marketing number.”
A member of the Alpine Academy, the 23-year-old Flörsch this year competed in the FIA Formula 3 Championship.
“I’m so sorry for you, Marta,” Flörsch noted on Facebook in response to Garcia’s announcement.
“It looks like they used you [in] 2023 for short-time marketing.
“With female drivers, visibility doesn’t help to keep up with the stopwatch. That’s not a secret. Visibility just helps F1 but not female pilots.”
Flörsch’s comments were first reported by Autosport before the article was removed – though not before it was distributed to other platforms.
F1 Academy was created with a view to increasing female participation in motorsport, with Susie Wolff appointed CEO in March last year.
The category’s creation followed the ill-fated W Series, which collapsed at the end of 2022.
A key difference, however, is the buy-in from all 10 F1 teams, with cars running in colours akin to their premier-class counterparts.
F1 Academy utilises F4 machinery and is designed as a first step on the latter towards F1, with the bonus of scholarship for the champion to continue their career the following season.
Launched for 2023, the competition expanded this year by joining the F1 support program at a number of high-profile events, including the Miami and Singapore Grands Prix.
It builds on other efforts elsewhere in the industry, including the FIA’s Girls on Track and Women in Motorsport initiatives.
Flörsch, however, remains cynical of the industry’s efforts.
“Have you found one sponsor, Marta?,” she enquired of Garcia.
“What happened in 2024 was so bad. They point the finger at you even though they know exactly what it takes.
“The male talents of the team bosses show how it’s done.
“Where are all the women’s programmes that were announced in 2021/2022? Why media doesn’t ask the right questions?
“It’s so sad. Pinkwashing. Let’s make a list of female drivers since 2021 and ask them what happens in racing.”
The German went on to note Jamie Chadwick, who thrice won the W Series title, and the success she had enjoyed since switching to Indy NXT in the United States.
Flörsch, who did not compete in W Series of F1 Academy, is poised to test with an HMD Motorsports Indy NXT machine.
Discussion about this post