by VALERIO BARRETTA
Verstappen opens up to women in F1
It's been almost 50 years since a driver started a race valid for the Formula 1 World Championship. The last to succeed in what is nowadays a feat was Maria Grazia Lombardi at the Österreichring in 1976. After “Lella” Divina Galica, Desiré Wilson and Giovanna Amati tried, but they did not qualify for the race: the last to stop at the qualifications was Amati himself.
Now the road for a woman towards Formula 1 is even more insidious: beyond the different technical characteristics of the cars and prejudices which, as we know, die hard, modern drivers are required to have impeccable physical form and more muscular training. intense compared to a few decades ago, and it is no coincidence that for over 30 years (1992) no female representative has attended a race weekend. For the greatest exponent of Formula 1 today, Max Verstappenthere is however room for having a female colleague in the future.
Verstappen's words
The Dutchman, who grew up in a family of drivers (in addition to his father Jos, his mother Sophie Kumpen also raced karts), believes that no goal is precluded for girls who dream of F1: “If you look at the percentage of men and women in racing, I believe that even for the former the percentage of entering the Circus is very low, so naturally for women it is even more difficult, because there are fewer of them. I think that physically driving in F1 is quite difficult in some places, but everything can be trained with hard work. Of course for a woman it's a little more difficult, but if you have enough talent it's possible“.
“I don't think the team bosses or the people who decide to choose their drivers think 'No, we only want men'. If there is a woman who beats everyone else, then of course she will have the opportunity to make it to Formula 1, it's just that there are fewer women in the sport, so naturally the percentage of making it to the top is lower“. Precisely to increase the chances of girls “making it” in motorsports, this year the F1 Academy made its debut, the women's championship which in 2024 will introduce the novelty of ten drivers who will be officially supported by one of the ten Formula 1 teams.
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