Chadwick: F1 Test 'Top of Bucket List' After 32 Laps at Portimao — SkimNews
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- Jamie Chadwick, 28, completed 32 laps in a Formula 1 car at the Portimao circuit in Portugal, calling the experience the 'top' bucket-list item in her motorsport career
- Chadwick has been a Williams development driver since 2019 and won all three seasons of the all-female W Series, plus became the first woman to win a road race in IndyCar's feeder series
- Williams driver Chadwick described the physical toll, saying 'you wake up the next morning like you've been in a fight with Mike Tyson' due to extreme G-forces on the neck
- Doriane Pin became the first female to drive a Mercedes in April, making Chadwick not the only woman to have tested an F1 car this year
- Lella Lombardi remains the only woman to score points in an F1 grand prix, with no female driver having started a race in the 50 years since she raced in 1975
- Susie Wolff, now managing director of the all-female F1 Academy series and one of Chadwick's stated inspirations, drove a Williams at the 2014 British Grand Prix — the first female F1 session appearance in over two decades
- Chadwick said women are 'capable of competing in Formula 1' but argued there 'shouldn't be a timeline on it,' noting only 22 seats exist and even F2/F3 champions struggle to land one
Why it matters: Chadwick's test is the latest data point in a slow trickle of women reaching F1 machinery — 13 women have now driven an F1 car, yet only 2 have actually started a race and none has raced since Lombardi 50 years ago. With Williams actively offering development opportunities and F1 Academy under Susie Wolff creating a formal pipeline, the bottleneck remains the 22-seat grid, where talent far outstrips openings.
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