F1 Academy is a female-only single-seater racing championship founded by Formula One. The championship is a spec series, with all teams competing with an identical

Tatuus F4-T-421 The Tatuus F4-T421 is an open-wheel formula race car, designed, developed and built by Italian manufacturer Tatuus, for Formula 4 junior categories, since 2021. History In January 2021, it was first announced that the car would go into productio ...

chassis and tyre compounds developed by

Pirelli Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is a multinational tyre manufacturer based in Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922, is the 6th-largest tyre manufacturer and is focused on the consumer production of tyre ...

. Each car is powered by a 165-horsepower turbocharged 4-cylinder engine developed by Autotecnica. Its inaugural season in 2023 was won by Marta García driving for Prema Racing, who won the teams' championship.

History

The championship traces its roots back to 2004, when

Formula Woman Formula Woman, which was known as the Privilege Insurance Formula Woman Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a female-only one make racing series started in 2004 in the UK. It was inspired by the lack of female drivers in other series and w ...

was established due to the lack of female drivers in other series. In 2018, the W Series was created for the same reason. However, after the 2022 season, with the series battling financial issues, the series was liquidated as no sponsorship appeared. On 18 November 2022, Formula One announced the creation of F1 Academy, a racing series for women aimed to focus on developing and preparing young drivers to progress to higher levels of competition. It was created to help smooth the transition from

karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...

to the single-seater ladder. The five teams that are currently participating in F1 Academy are ART Grand Prix, Campos Racing,

Rodin Motorsport Rodin Motorsport (formerly known as Carlin Motorsport, Carlin and Rodin Carlin) is a motor racing team based in the United Kingdom. It currently competes in six championships: FIA Formula 2 Championship, FIA Formula 3 Championship, BRDC Britis ...

, MP Motorsport and Prema Racing. On 1 March 2023,

Susie Wolff Susie is a female name that can be a diminutive form of Susan, Susanne, Suzanne, Susannah, Susanna or Susana. Susie may refer to: Songs * "Susie Q" (song), a 1957 song by Dale Hawkins, covered by Creedence Clearwater Revival (1968) *"Wake Up ...

was appointed the managing director for the series. For the 2023 season, Formula One subsidised the cost of each car, with drivers having to contribute €150,000. This was reduced to €100,000 for the 2024 season. Also for 2024, all ten Formula One teams supported one driver each who will carry the team's livery on their car. The remaining five drivers are supported by the series' partners.

Championship format

The 2023 season consisted of seven event weekends with three races each, for a total of 21 races, plus fifteen days of official testing. The final of the seven events was a Formula One support race during the United States Grand Prix. On 31 March 2023, Formula One CEO

Stefano Domenicali Stefano Domenicali (born 11 May 1965) is an Italian manager and the current CEO of Formula One Group, replacing Chase Carey. He was the CEO of Italian sports car manufacturer Lamborghini from 2016 to 2020. He was the team principal of the Scu ...

announced that the 2024 season would take place exclusively on select Formula One weekends, joining Formula 2,

Formula 3 Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One driv ...

and the Porsche Supercup as part of the support bill.

Cars

The cars used are the Tatuus F4-T421 chassis used in Formula 4 championships globally since 2022, with tyres provided by Formula One partner

. The engine was provided by Autotecnica and consisted of a 1.4-liter

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

4 cylinder The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorize ...

, capable of delivering 174 horsepower at 5500 rpm.

Champions

Drivers

Teams

Circuits

* Bold denotes a circuit will be used in the 2024 season.

References

External links

*
Official website of F1 Academy
* {{Female motorsport series Formula racing series Formula 4 series One-make series F1 Academy Women's sports competitions Women's sports organizations