Women have become less and less prominent in motorsports. As Formula 1 grows bigger and bigger, the demand for having more women has been brought up in conversations. Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, and many other drivers have raised their voices.
As of now, Formula 1 has seen only five female drivers in the sport until now. With the sport becoming tougher to participate in, the last female driver in F1 was Suzie Wolff. However, while F1 takes major steps in building a better foundation around gender inclusivity in the sport, a woman made history yet again.
None other than Liza Koshy made history. Liza Koshy is a half American-half Indian actress who started off her career as a YouTuber. The actress visited the paddock in 2019 during Lewis Hamilton’s dominance. The two have been good friends for a while and to this date, can be seen posting stories of each other. However, at the race, Koshy got a chance to hold Hamilton’s race win trophy. However, just a day earlier, Liza presented the Pirelli pole position award to Sebastian Vettel.
He hasn’t had one of these in a while… 17 races, in fact
Sebastian Vettel receives his #PirelliPolePositionAward from actor and host Liza Koshy#CanadianGP 🇨🇦 #F1 pic.twitter.com/QvSeIIOpVZ
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 8, 2019
This made her the first woman in the history of the sport to present the pole position award. With the sport taking steps forward, multiple women have taken the spotlight.
With the TikTok sensation, Lissie Mackintosh, who became a content creator for the sport to Suzie Wolff who took the role of managing director for F1 Academy after being a driver, women have been encouraged to step into the world of motorsport. F1 has also started an F1 Academy which is an all-female championship.
Lewis Hamilton plays an integral role in promoting the W-series
Lewis Hamilton has spoken up about various topics of importance. With the fast-developing world and the speed at which everything has been changing, the driver has used his platform to raise awareness and promote multiple causes. One of which was the W-series. The Mercedes star visited the women in the W-series. Hamilton also promoted the W-series on his social media and talked about encouraging women to participate.
When Ted Kravitz, Sky F1 broadcaster was at the W-series he mentioned Hamilton as the “Only driver who bothered to come down to the W Series paddock,”
However, soon after, the W-series ended and F1 Academy came into the running instead. When the news of the W-series ending hit the news, Hamilton expressed he was upset. The F1 star told Motorsport,
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“100%. I do. Particularly the W Series.”
“There has not been enough focus on women in sport for the whole of Formula 1’s life. There is not enough emphasis on it now. They’re not magnifying enough the great work that is being done there.”
He called out F1’s lack of support for the women’s series. The driver called out the sport for being unsupportive. So far F1 has only been able to successfully launch F1 Academy for women. However, there is still no woman in the F1 championship.