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Drivers will continue to race with identical
machinery, however, with cars prepared and maintained by W
Series Engineering.
The series, whose second season starts at Austria's Red Bull
Ring this weekend and which has the ultimate aim of helping a
woman race in Formula One for the first time since 1976,
currently provides cars to the drivers individually.
The women racers, selected on merit, pay nothing for their seats
and compete for a total prize fund of $1.5 million.
The new team structure will see driver pairings representing a
number of new sponsors including German sportswear company Puma.
"It transforms the business, it's bringing in money in order to
create a sustainable business," W series founder and chief
executive Catherine Bond Muir told Reuters.
She said putting on the series cost tens of millions of dollars
but the link-up with Formula One provided a global stage and a
"quality stamp" for sponsors.
"Going forward we are going to be sustained by our partners
coming in. We can have long-term planning and grow the business
much better. For me this is possibly our most important
announcement," she added.
"It is well documented how women's sport has been more affected
than men's sport during the pandemic. I think one of the great
things about what we're announcing is that it demonstrates we're
bucking that trend."
Bond Muir said there would be a teams championship in future but
not a constructors' one, because W series wanted to ensure a
level playing field.
Teams would not be allowed to charge the drivers any money or
force them to bring sponsorship in order to secure the drive, as
happens in other junior series.
Bond Muir envisaged a scenario where teams could be competing
for the services of a driver, and that would be encouraged.
"We want the drivers to earn money so if there was competition
and they got the best driver because they were paying more
money, from my point of view that's all good," she said.
"What we're helping to do is empower female drivers and get
money for them. We've still got our prize money this year...but
going forward if teams wanted to come in and pay a lot of money
for a particular driver then I'd personally welcome that."
Britain's inaugural W Series champion Jamie Chadwick will
represent the Veloce team, with whom she already has a
relationship.
The series did not race last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic
after starting in 2019 alongside the German Touring Car
championship (DTM).
Bond Muir said the first year had focused on explaining the
rationale for the series, and the second was about survival and
getting the deal with Formula One.
"This year has been about financial security and has got to be
now about audience growth and spreading the brand of W Series
throughout the world," she said.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond)
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