Formula One’s chief executive Bernie Ecclestone still has plans to brighten up grand prix weekends – despite the success of the race in Malaysia on Sunday.
Ecclestone wants to look at the idea of an all-women world championship, with the races taking place before the main event on Sunday afternoons.
He said: “I thought it would be a good idea to give them a showcase. For some reason, women are not coming through – and not because we don’t want them. Of course we do, because they would attract a lot of attention and publicity and probably a lot of sponsors.
“We have to start somewhere so I suggested to the teams that we have a separate championship and maybe that way, we will be able to bring someone through to F1. They could race before the main event, or perhaps on the Saturday qualifying day so that they had their own interest.
“It is only a thought at the moment but I think it would be super for F1 and the whole grand prix weekend.”
Another idea might be to switch qualifying to Friday, with a sprint race for the men and a women’s event filling the Saturday slot. It is the Friday of grand prix weekends which is consistently the least exciting. The main event is currently the two practice sessions, but they often end in too little running and anti-climax.
The best known woman driver is Susie Wolff, a test driver for Williams and the wife of the Mercedes motorsport chief Toto Wolff. But another obvious candidate would be Carmen Jordá, a development driver with Lotus who is a former GP3 driver. Simona de Silvestro, who tested for Sauber last year, could be another choice.