Fast sport slow to change as F1 marks 50 years since last female racer

LONDON, Aug 10 : Alexia Danielsson was 14 when she first drove a Formula One car, a modified 2007 Williams owned by a family friend.

Now 17 and competing in the Central European F4 series where rivals include 15-year-old Ella Hakkinen, McLaren-backed daughter of retired double F1 world champion Mika, the Swede hopes one day to be on the grand prix starting grid for real.

"I don't think anything is impossible, you just have to really go for it. How long? I have no idea,"  Danielsson, currently 26th of 49 in the standings, told Reuters. 

The youngster is one of many chasing a dream that only a vanishingly small number will ever realise. And for the past 50 years, only men have managed to make it all the way.

This weekend marks half a century since a woman last raced in the Formula One world championship, and the wait looks far from over. F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali said in 2024 he could not see it happening in the next five years.

MORE THAN EQUAL SEEKS CHANGE

Danielsson, whose father Alx won the 2006 World Series by Renault, is already an elite racer - one of a select cohort being helped by More Than Equal, an initative set up in 2022 by former F1 racer David Coulthard and Czech billionaire Karel Komarek.

The non-profit global programme's founding aim was "to identify, develop and support the first female Formula One world champion".

"We're not a race team, we don't have shiny cars with shiny stickers, we're not a race series," chief executive Tom Stanton told Reuters. "What we do is build drivers, and that's how we fit into the ecosystem."

There is no doubting the commitment of those selected, or awareness of how difficult the chosen path will be as the sport's popularity explodes. These are not starry-eyed converts to