F1 Esports: McLaren's mission to encourage more female sim racers

Esports is an ever-growing community of casual gamers and competitive professionals, and the level of female involvement is higher than ever.

Formula 1 recently launched the second instalment of its Esports Women’s Wildcard, giving women and girls the opportunity to showcase their skills on the virtual racing track.

Speaking to GiveMeSport Women, McLaren’s Director of Licensing, Ecommerce & Esports Lindsey Eckhouse discussed the astonishing growth of the competitive virtual world.

“As an overall industry, Esports has been exploding, it’s part of why I was initially so intrigued when I was offered an opportunity to work at G2 Esports, which is a big multi-team Esports club out of Berlin. And even since then it’s continued to grow.

“I think the big thing to think about is Esports is like the sports industry. So it’s one big industry that’s divided into different facets, like League of Legends, Esports, or sim racing esports, which is really where we compete. But even within the Formula 1 scene, we’ve seen huge growth, both from the pandemic, but we’ve seen that momentum carry on even after.”

As well as on-track racing, there are still gender barriers to challenge when it comes to Esports.

For many years, motorsport has been a heavily male-dominated industry. The last time a woman appeared on the grid of a Formula 1 race was more than 40 years ago.

Since then, women have continued to chip away at the glass ceiling and now the W Series, the all-female racing championship, is taking the world by storm.

Similarly, more women are getting involved in virtual racing and McLaren is helping to create equal opportunities for everyone.

The incredible set up at the McLaren Shadow Studio plays a huge part in encouraging more women to