A lack of funding has seen the final three rounds of the 2022 W Series season cancelled though hopes remain high for a return in 2023.
Concerns regarding the category’s immediate future surfaced as it touched down in Singapore for its most recent event.
There, it was revealed that contracted payments due in September had not been received, raising the prospects of a curtailed championship.
That has now come to pass with W Series founder and CEO Catherine Bond Muir confirming events in the United States and Mexico, which was set to be a double-round, will not go proceed.
“It’s with both great sadness and frustration that we announce that our much-anticipated final three races of the 2022 season in Austin and Mexico City will not go ahead,” Bond Muir said in a statement released by W Series.
“As a start-up in only our third season of racing, we are always working hard to ensure regularity of funding as we continue to grow our business, but due to recent unforeseen circumstances outside of W Series’ control, we had not been in receipt of contracted funds due to us.
“Therefore, we have been forced to make the unfortunate decision not to complete our scheduled calendar this season.”
While the 2022 season is now over, with Jamie Chadwick the series champion, there are efforts to ensure the competition continues next year.
That, according to Bond Muir, who spoke to the media as the news broke, will see the competition in something of a rebuilding year.
It does, however, maintain a desire to campaign.
“We believed up until this weekend, there was a possibility for us to get to Austin, and we’ve just had to call it because obviously there are deadlines on payments of things that need to be done,” Bond Muir said in the media roundtable.
“We just had to make a pragmatic call today.
“Going forward, the big message is that I am extremely confident that W Series will be here next year, which I hope you’ll all be happy about.”
Now in its third season, the W Series was designed as a means to drive female participation in motorsport, primarily from a driving standpoint but not exclusively.
It addressed, or attempted to, the significant lack of equality between the genders among competitors, a way of responding to the male domination sport.
There were, and remain, detractors. The arguments run that the sport is inclusive by default, and the W Series is an answer to a problem it is creating. Others claim it’s woke, reverse sexism, discriminatory against males, or even illegal.
Some of those arguments have merit, some do not, but they all miss the point that since the sport’s inception it has failed to attract female interest.
To this day it remains a boys’ club despite there being no reason why both genders cannot compete side by side from the driver’s seat, pit wall, or design office.
The W Series does not solve that problem, nor was it ever really meant to, but it is a step in the right direction and for that reason plays a key role in the sport’s future.
It has offered a high-profile advertisement that females can race, and that there is a place for them in the sport. It was designed to inspire, to spark the imagination in those who might otherwise dismiss a career in motorsport as unavailable to them because they’re not male.
Going forward, it’s likely at least for 2023 that Formula 1 events will be mixed with other platforms, with a more European-centric calendar in an effort to reduce costs.
“Whether next year is a holding year or not is yet to be decided. And I think, obviously, those decisions need to be taken in conjunction with any new person coming into the business with money,” Bond Muir explained.
“We are racing next year.”
“We do want to still be on the F1 support bill but obviously going forward, we need to be mindful of our costs,” she added.
“Sitting where I am now, it would be prudent to have more European races than we have – and European races are somewhat of a scarcity with Formula 1.
“We haven’t been told yet what races we have been offered.
“I think I’ve said in a previous call with people that Formula 1 come back to us and offers us certain races and then we go from there, so the four European races that we had this year were the four European races that were offered.”.
The value of the British Pound versus the US Dollar has played a role in the category’s current predicament, with the cost of the Singapore event increasing from when it was initially budgeted for simply because of the changing economic landscape.
For the moment, there are no certainties. Funding is short and there remain unanswered questions on whether drivers will receive the prize money owed to them, or even if there will be a gala dinner to celebrate the seven events that have taken place this year.
“Where I sit at the moment, it is my expectation that that will be paid out,” Bond Muir said in reference to the prize money owed to drivers – Chadwick being eligible for $500,000.
“I can’t say 100 percent [it will be paid] until the money and plus everything else and the working capital for the business going forward [is secured], but where I stand at the moment, I don’t see any reason why that won’t be the case.”
The W Series has offered fully-funded drives to competitors, and that is not a model the business is looking to change. That does not, however, mean it has been an easy or glamorous ride.
In Singapore, for instance, all drivers travelled to the venue from their hotel on public transport, with Speedcafe.com learning that saw them carrying their own seat on MRT as they headed to the track on Thursday morning.
“We are incredibly thankful for the help and support we have received in recent weeks following the news of the financial difficulties we’ve been facing, which has accelerated our fundraising process and given us great optimism as we look to 2023 and beyond,” Bond Muir said.
“While we aren’t in a position to make a formal announcement yet, there are many positive conversations ongoing and all parties share our passion for and belief in our mission to provide our incredible field of women drivers a platform to showcase their talents and to race in front of enthusiastic fans all around the world.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure the long-term financial health of our business and we look forward to W Series’ continued growth and success.
“Having set up W Series in 2018, I am acutely accustomed to the relentless work that goes on to not only keep our business operational but also acquire the fundraising and sponsorship to grow our business further, supporting our talented drivers and hard-working personnel who put their heart and soul into driving W Series and our mission forward.
“We are grateful for the continued support of our incredible and growing fanbase, and we hope to share positive news regarding the future of W Series in the coming weeks.”
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