Grassroots key to getting a female driver to F1, says Chadwick

LONDON, Aug 10 : Jamie Chadwick has no doubt that female drivers will rise to the top in motorsport if enough of them start at the bottom.

Britain's leading woman racer, a triple champion in the defunct W Series who is now eyeing a career in the world endurance championship, has her own initiative to get girls into karting and onto the motorsport pathway.

The key, she told Reuters in a recent interview, is not only to awaken a passion for speed at an early age but also to create an inviting and welcoming environment for young women in a sport still dominated by men.

"I had an older brother which helped, but I was the only girl there (at the go-kart track) and, yeah, you're eight to 12 years old and it's not necessarily an environment that, you know, is the most inviting," she recalled.

"I wanted to create a community, a championship that young girls can come in and make friends, come with their friends, enjoy the race and get into it in a really natural way...and we've seen amazing uptake.

"I think this is what is going to ultimately help all the other initiatives that we see going on across the board, to continue to encourage more female talent into the sport."

FIFTY YEARS SINCE A WOMAN LAST RACED IN F1

Chadwick, 28, said starting earlier - as young as four years old - was one of the biggest advantages that men had in motorsport, with parents often more inclined to push boys than girls because so few women were racing at the top.

This month marks 50 years since a woman last raced in Formula One, the late Lella Lombardi at the Austrian Grand Prix on August 15, 1976. The Italian qualified her RAM-entered Brabham BT44B in 24th position and finished 12th, last of those still running.

Lombardi, who died at the age of 50 in 1992,