F1 and motorsport in general suffered a huge blow this year, with W-Series going into administration. Lewis Hamilton was the only F1 driver who showed concern for the defunct series, which aimed at encouraging women’s participation in motorsports. In fact, he also tried to get in investors to save the series. However, according to BusinessF1, W Series had ended up draining $30,000,000 that it had raised from its original investors. Hamilton was unaware of this.
Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz revealed on the Sky F1 podcast how Lewis Hamilton was the only driver to have visited the W-Series paddock. Kravitz explained on the podcast how the W Series fell short by a few millions and it could have been given a lifeline by F1.
Kravitz said, “There wasn’t too much money that was still needed. Lewis was talking about that. There just needs to be this commitment.” Hamilton himself spoke out on the issue when W Series went into administration. As per Motorsport, he claimed that the F1 Group should have helped out the all-female racing series.
However, W Series could not manage to find any investors for a possible revival. This is because the original 50 investors who had put their money into the all-female series had lost all of their funds.
Lewis Hamilton tried to save the W Series
By the middle of 2022, it seemed that the W Series was working well as it had found its place among some Formula 1 support races. However, their broadcast deal with Sky Sports cost around $1-2 Million which was huge for the series as they had absolutely no income of their own.
Even though they started to gain TV ratings and even crossed the 1 million viewership mark during the British GP weekend, W Series failed to capitalize on the viewer numbers by selling sponsorship deals. None of the races or the series as a whole had sponsors to rely on. Finally, W Series had to shut its doors during the Singapore GP last year, due to a shortage of funds.
Singapore-based oil trader Michael Livingston suffered the greatest loss according to BusinessF1. The investor, who had originally bought 27.5 million shares of the company for $7 Million, lost all his money.
Other people who lost money include British recruitment entrepreneurs Sean Wadsworth and Nigel O’Donoghue, who lost about $8 million between them. Towards the very end of its short life, W Series had hoped that the F1 Group would jump in to rescue them, but that didn’t materialize.
Formula 1 has its own plan for women in motorsports
As of now, F1 is running its own all-female category, namely the F1 Academy. Under the leadership of Susie Wolff, F1 Academy aims to become everything that W Series could not – provide women with a platform where they can showcase their talent, and make it to F1.
One of the major advantages that F1 Academy has is that it is under the umbrella of the Formula 1 Group. However, even the new all-female category has come under widespread criticism after F1 failed to find a broadcasting partner for the series.
Having no live stream is a major concern because if the races were broadcasted live, it would have helped the series and its drivers gain more sponsors. This is something that is of utmost important in the world of motorsports. However, with only half a season gone, F1 Academy is still young and has a long way to go.
