2021 W Series

2021 W Series champion Jamie Chadwick

The 2021 W Series was the second season of the W Series motor racing championship, replacing the 2020 season after it was cancelled due of the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] The championship was exclusively open to female racing drivers as a Formula Regional-level racing series in support of the 2021 Formula One World Championship.[2]

Jamie Chadwick entered the season as the defending W Series champion, having won the title in 2019.[3] Chadwick secured her second consecutive championship, winning the 2021 title at the season finale race, at Circuit of the Americas.

Entries

The following drivers and teams made up the grid for the 2021 W Series season. All teams used Hankook tyres, and ran two mechanically identical Tatuus F.3 T-318 cars with two drivers.[4] All cars were operated by Fine Moments, and 'teams' were purely for sponsorship and identification purposes.[5]

Team No. Drivers Rounds
Puma W Series Team 3 Poland Gosia Rdest 1–2
19 Spain Marta García All
20 Australia Caitlin Wood 4–5
49 United Kingdom Abbi Pulling 3, 6–8
W Series Academy 3 Poland Gosia Rdest 5
20 Australia Caitlin Wood 7–8
32 Spain Nerea Martí All
51 Russia Irina Sidorkova 1–6[lower-alpha 1]
Bunker Racing 5 Liechtenstein Fabienne Wohlwend[lower-alpha 2] All
37 United States Sabré Cook All
Écurie W 7 Finland Emma Kimiläinen All
44 United Kingdom Abbie Eaton All
Sirin Racing 11 Italy Vicky Piria All
54 Japan Miki Koyama All
M. Forbes Motorsport 17 Norway Ayla Ågren All
95 Netherlands Beitske Visser All
Racing X 21 United Kingdom Jessica Hawkins All
27 United Kingdom Alice Powell All
Scuderia W 22 Spain Belén García All
26 United Kingdom Sarah Moore All
Veloce Racing 55 United Kingdom Jamie Chadwick All
97 Brazil Bruna Tomaselli All
Source:[8]
Reserve drivers
No. Drivers
3 Poland Gosia Rdest
20 Australia Caitlin Wood
31 South Africa Tasmin Pepper
49 United Kingdom Abbi Pulling
99 Rwanda Naomi Schiff

Driver changes

The top twelve drivers from the 2019 championship were all qualified for the 2020 season,[9] leaving eight vacancies in the driver line-up. Forty new drivers applied to take part in the season; however, only fourteen of those took part in the first test which took place between 16 and 18 September 2019 at the Circuito de Almería, Spain.[9][10] The final 18 drivers were announced on 17 December 2020, with the possibility of more being announced at a later date.[11] A list of five reserve drivers was announced on 11 June 2021, comprising 2019 drivers Gosia Rdest, Naomi Schiff and Caitlin Wood, British F4 podium finisher Abbi Pulling, and Tasmin Pepper, who was unable to take part in the season due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions.[12]

Championship changes

Hitech GP announced on 14 November 2020 that they would discontinue their involvement for 2021 as they moved into new series,[13] and Fine Moments took over their role for the 2021 season.[14] The series continues to use the same Tatuus T-318 Formula 3 chassis and Alfa Romeo engines.[15] On 24 June 2021 W Series announced it would pivot from a centrally-run series format to a team-based structure with assigned drivers and control over the car livery and team overalls, as well as the team name. The 2021 season would be used as a transitional season, with an unofficial teams' championship and all outfits still being centrally run, but with a vision for a fully team-structured grid and a legitimate teams' championship for the 2022 season.[5] Prioritising the importance of driver skill within the championship, and to ensure technical equality, all 18 cars, although sporting a variety of liveries and team names, will remain mechanically identical, with preparation and maintenance managed by W Series Engineering.[5] Hankook was initially dropped as the tyre supplier for the 2021 season due to the move from the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters to F1 support bill,[13] and W Series was reportedly "speaking to a number of tyre suppliers". On 5 May 2021, however, W Series announced Hankook would continue to supply tyres for the 2021 season.[4]

Calendar and results
Alice Powell scored two pole positions and three race wins.

The series management announced on 12 November 2020 that the season would consist of eight rounds all held in support of the 2021 Formula One World Championship.[16] A provisional calendar was then revealed on 8 December 2020.[17] After Formula One made slight amendments to its calendar, the W Series moved its first event from Circuit Paul Ricard to the Red Bull Ring.[18] Later on in the year, when Formula One postponed the 2021 Mexico City Grand Prix, the season finale was shifted from the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez to the Circuit of the Americas.[19]

Round Circuit Date Pole Position Fastest Lap Race Winner Winning Team Report
1 Austria Red Bull Ring 26 June United Kingdom Alice Powell United Kingdom Alice Powell United Kingdom Alice Powell Racing X report
2 3 July United Kingdom Jamie Chadwick United Kingdom Jamie Chadwick United Kingdom Jamie Chadwick Veloce Racing report
3 United Kingdom Silverstone Circuit 17 July United Kingdom Alice Powell United Kingdom Alice Powell United Kingdom Alice Powell Racing X report
4 Hungary Hungaroring 31 July United Kingdom Jamie Chadwick United Kingdom Jamie Chadwick United Kingdom Jamie Chadwick Veloce Racing report
5 Belgium Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps 28 August United Kingdom Jamie Chadwick Finland Emma Kimiläinen Finland Emma Kimiläinen Écurie W report
6 Netherlands Circuit Zandvoort 4 September Finland Emma Kimiläinen United Kingdom Alice Powell United Kingdom Alice Powell Racing X report
7 United States Circuit of the Americas 23 October United Kingdom Abbi Pulling United Kingdom Alice Powell United Kingdom Jamie Chadwick Veloce Racing report
8 24 October United Kingdom Jamie Chadwick United Kingdom Jamie Chadwick United Kingdom Jamie Chadwick Veloce Racing
Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
- France Circuit Paul Ricard 26 June Replaced with a second race at the Red Bull Ring
- Mexico Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez 30 October Replaced with a second race at the Circuit of the Americas
Sources:[18][19][20]

Championship standings

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers as follows:[21]

Race Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th 
Points 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1

Drivers' Championship
Pos. Driver RBR1
Austria		 RBR2
Austria		 SIL
United Kingdom		 HUN
Hungary		 SPA
Belgium		 ZAN
Netherlands		 COA1
United States		 COA2
United States		 Points
1 United Kingdom Jamie Chadwick 6 1 3 1 2 2 1 1 159
2 United Kingdom Alice Powell 1 8 1 2 4 1 3 6 132
3 Finland Emma Kimiläinen 13 3 4 6 1 3 2 3 108
4 Spain Nerea Martí 7 7 5 3 8 4 8 8 61
5 United Kingdom Sarah Moore 2 4 7 15 13 9 7 4 56
6 Liechtenstein Fabienne Wohlwend 3 10 2 Ret 7 16 9 Ret 42
7 United Kingdom Abbi Pulling 8 7 4 2 40
8 Netherlands Beitske Visser 12 11 6 5 DNS 12 5 5 38
9 Russia Irina Sidorkova 8 2 14 4 WD 13 34
10 Spain Belén García 4 9 17† 8 14 8 12 7 28
11 United Kingdom Jessica Hawkins 16 16 16 10 6 5 6 15 27
12 Spain Marta García Ret 12 12 7 3 18 15 DNS 21
13 United Kingdom Abbie Eaton 15 6 9 13 10 6 Ret DNS 19
14 Japan Miki Koyama 5 18 Ret 12 9 10 10 12 14
15 Brazil Bruna Tomaselli 11 5 11 9 15 17 17 11 12
16 Australia Caitlin Wood 17 5 13 10 11
17 Norway Ayla Ågren 10 14 15 11 DNS 15 16 9 3
18 Poland Gosia Rdest 9 17 16 2
19 Italy Vicky Piria 17† 15 10 16 12 11 14 14 1
20 United States Sabré Cook 14 13 13 14 11 14 11 13 0
Pos. Driver RBR1
Austria		 RBR2
Austria		 SIL
United Kingdom		 HUN
Hungary		 SPA
Belgium		 ZAN
Netherlands		 COA1
United States		 COA2
United States		 Points
Source:[21]
ColourResult
GoldWinner
SilverSecond place
BronzeThird place
GreenPoints finish
BlueNon-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
PurpleRetired (Ret)
RedDid not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
BlackDisqualified (DSQ)
WhiteDid not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap
† — Did not finish, but classified

Notes
  1. Sidorkova was entered for the Spa-Francorchamps round but withdrew after testing positive for COVID-19. She was replaced by Gosia Rdest.[6]
  2. Wohlwend is a Liechtenstein driver who competed under a Swiss licence.[7]

References
  1. "W Series cancels 2020 season but reveals plans for F1 support races in 2021". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  2. "All-female motor racing series offers potential F1 pathway". CNN. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  3. "Jamie Chadwick wins inaugural W Series Championship". W Series. 11 August 2019. Archived from the original on 14 September 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  4. "Hankook continue as global tyre partner". W Series. 5 May 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  5. "W Series pivots towards new 'Team' structure". W Series. 24 June 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  6. "STATEMENT ON COVID-19 TEST RESULT FOR W SERIES ACADEMY DRIVER IRINA SIDORKOVA". W Series. 27 August 2021.
  7. "Fabienne: Ein Podium für die Nachbarn". Autosprint.ch (in German). 27 June 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  8. "W Series begins move to team-based format for new season · RaceFans". RaceFans. 23 June 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  9. "W Series to limit 2020 new driver test to less than 20 drivers". Highway F1. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  10. "Legge, Eaton, Agren among 2020 W Series applicants". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  11. "2021 Driver Line-Up Announced". W Series. 17 December 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  12. "Reserve driver line-up confirmed for 2021". W Series. 11 June 2021.
  13. Wood, Ida (14 November 2020). "Hitech confirms discontinuation of W Series involvement for 2021". Formula Scout. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  14. "W Series makes branding change to allocate drivers into 'teams'". Formula Scout. 23 June 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  15. "Preparations Hit The Home Straight". W Series. 17 May 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  16. "W Series to support F1 in 2021 and beyond". ESPN.com. 12 November 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  17. "2021 race calendar announced". W Series. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  18. "Preparations Hit The Home Straight". W Series. 17 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  19. "W Series at the Double in Austin for 2021 Season Finale". W Series. 23 September 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  20. "W Series Results 2021". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  21. "2021 season results and standings". W Series. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
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