2021 W Series

The 2021 W Series was the second season of the W Series motor racing championship, replacing the 2020 season after it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1] The championship was exclusively open to female racing drivers as a Formula Regional-level racing series in support of the 2021 Formula One World Championship.^[2]

Jamie Chadwick entered the season as the defending W Series champion, having won the title in 2019.^[3] Chadwick secured her second consecutive championship, winning the 2021 title at the season finale race, at Circuit of the Americas.

The series management announced on 12 November 2020 that the season would consist of eight rounds all held in support of the 2021 Formula One World Championship, including two rounds scheduled for the cancelled 2020 season at the Circuit of the Americas and Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.^[4] A provisional calendar was then revealed on 8 December 2020.^[5] After Formula One made slight amendments to its calendar, the W Series moved its first event from Circuit Paul Ricard to the Red Bull Ring.^[6] Later on in the year, when Formula One postponed the 2021 Mexico City Grand Prix, the season finale was shifted from Mexico City to a second race in Austin.^[7]

Round	Circuit	Date	Maps
1	Red Bull Ring, Spielberg	26 June	Le Castellet Spielberg Silverstone Budapest Spa Zandvoort Austin Mexico City
2		3 July
3	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone	17 July
4	Hungaroring, Mogyoród	31 July
5	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot	28 August
6	Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort	4 September
7	Circuit of the Americas, Austin	23–24 October
Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
-	Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet	26 June	Replaced with a second race at the Red Bull Ring
-	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City	30 October	Replaced with a second race at the Circuit of the Americas
Sources:[6][7][8]

The following drivers and teams made up the grid for the 2021 W Series season. All teams used Hankook tyres, and ran two mechanically identical Tatuus F.3 T-318 cars with two drivers.^[9] All cars were operated by Fine Moments, and 'teams' were purely for sponsorship and identification purposes.^[10]

Team No. Driver Status Rounds Puma W Series Team 3 Gosia Rdest R 1–2 19 Marta García All 20 Caitlin Wood R 4–5 49 Abbi Pulling R 3, 6–8 W Series Academy 3 Gosia Rdest R 5 20 Caitlin Wood R 7–8 32 Nerea Martí All 51 Irina Sidorkova 1–6[a] Bunker Racing 5 Fabienne Wohlwend[b] All 37 Sabré Cook All Écurie W 7 Emma Kimiläinen All 44 Abbie Eaton All Sirin Racing 11 Vittoria Piria All 54 Miki Koyama All M. Forbes Motorsport 17 Ayla Ågren All 95 Beitske Visser All Racing X 21 Jessica Hawkins All 27 Alice Powell All Scuderia W 22 Belén García All 26 Sarah Moore All Veloce Racing 55 Jamie Chadwick All 97 Bruna Tomaselli All Drivers contracted to the championship who did not race 31 Tasmin Pepper R None 99 Naomi Schiff R None Source:[13]

Icon Status R Reserve driver

The top twelve drivers from the 2019 championship were all qualified for the 2020 season,^[14] leaving eight vacancies in the driver line-up. Forty new drivers applied to take part in the season; however, only fourteen of those took part in the first test which took place between 16 and 18 September 2019 at the Circuito de Almería [es], Spain.^[14][15] The final 18 drivers were announced on 17 December 2020, with the possibility of more being announced at a later date.^[16] A list of five reserve drivers was announced on 11 June 2021, comprising 2019 drivers Gosia Rdest, Naomi Schiff and Caitlin Wood, British F4 podium finisher Abbi Pulling, and Tasmin Pepper, who was unable to take part in the season due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions.^[17]

Hitech GP announced on 14 November 2020 that they would discontinue their involvement for 2021 as they moved into new series,^[18] and Fine Moments took over their role for the 2021 season.^[19] The series continues to use the same Tatuus T-318 Formula 3 chassis and Alfa Romeo engines.^[20] On 24 June 2021 W Series announced it would pivot from a centrally-run series format to a team-based structure with assigned drivers and control over the car livery and team overalls, as well as the team name. The 2021 season would be used as a transitional season, with an unofficial teams' championship and all outfits still being centrally run, but with a vision for a fully team-structured grid and a legitimate teams' championship for the 2022 season.^[10] Prioritising the importance of driver skill within the championship, and to ensure technical equality, all 18 cars, although sporting a variety of liveries and team names, will remain mechanically identical, with preparation and maintenance managed by W Series Engineering.^[10] Hankook was initially dropped as the tyre supplier for the 2021 season due to the move from the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters to F1 support bill,^[18] and W Series was reportedly "speaking to a number of tyre suppliers". On 5 May 2021, however, W Series announced Hankook would continue to supply tyres for the 2021 season.^[9]

The series' return race at the Red Bull Ring after a years' hiatus was an incident-filled affair. Having qualified outside the top five, reigning champion Jamie Chadwick was punted off the circuit on the second lap by Jessica Hawkins, but would recover to finish in the points. Débutant Belén García made a strong impression starting in the top three, but went off chasing team-mate Sarah Moore for second. Marta García broke down with a gearbox failure and the resulting safety car restart saw Beitske Visser taken out of a podium position by Emma Kimiläinen. Alice Powell remained untroubled throughout, taking a wire-to-wire win ahead of Moore and Fabienne Wohlwend, who avoided all the chaos to finish third having started ninth.^[21]

Powell and Chadwick's fortunes turned around for the second round in Austria; the reigning champion cruised to her third series victory, whilst Powell finished eighth having qualified outside the top ten. Visser started on the front row, but stalled off the line and was unable to score any points. Irina Sidorkova, the youngest driver on the grid, overtook multiple cars off the circuit at the first corner but went unpenalised, surviving a battle with Kimiläinen to finish second. Bruna Tomaselli spent most of the race in fourth with a train of cars behind her, but Moore overhauled her in the closing stages.^[22]

Powell qualified on pole for her home race at Silverstone, but was beaten off the front row by Wohlwend. The Liechtensteiner led the majority of the race until a safety car was deployed for Miki Koyama, who stopped with a race-long mechanical issue. Wohlwend ran wide on the restart lap, and was overtaken by an ultimately victorious Powell. Chadwick rounded out the podium whilst Abbi Pulling scored points in her first W Series race. Belén García was taken out of a points-paying position on the last lap by Hawkins.^[23]

Chadwick claimed a commanding win in the fourth round of the season in Budapest, beating Powell by ten seconds in a mostly uneventful race. Nerea Martí claimed her first W Series podium and moved into third in the standings having put together a consistent rookie season. Wohlwend's strong early-season form came to an abrupt end after breaking her front wing on the opening lap and becoming the only race retirement.^[24]

The series' first trip to Spa-Francorchamps was dominated by a multi-car crash in qualifying. Changeable weather resulted in unexpected damp conditions at the Radillion de l'Eau Rouge complex, resulting in a pile-up involving Moore, Abbie Eaton, Visser, Ayla Ågren, Belén García and Wohlwend – team-mates Visser and Ågren were taken to hospital for precautionary checks and neither started the race.^[25] Emma Kimiläinen overtook Powell and Chadwick in extreme wet conditions to claim her first win of the season, with Chadwick second and Marta García taking her first podium since her win at the Norisring with third.^[26]

Powell won her third race of the season at the final European round in Zandvoort, drawing her level with Chadwick at the top of the championship. Kimiläinen continued her strong run by qualifying on pole position, but was overtaken by the two Brits early in the race. A lack of overtaking due to a design flaw with the Formula Regional cars resulted in an uninspiring race, however Tomaselli did spin on the formation lap.^[27]

The series ended with a double-header at the Circuit of the Americas, and Chadwick immediately gained the upper hand by qualifying on the front row for both races whilst Powell was mired at the back of the top ten. Chadwick won the race whilst Powell kept her title hopes alive having charged to a podium finish, overtaking her protégé Pulling – who claimed a shock pole position in just her third W Series race – in the closing stages. Eaton collided with a sausage kerb and fractured her T4 vertebrae, putting her out of the last race.^[28] Marta García also sat out the final heat suffering from anxiety. In the final race, Chadwick claimed an emphatic lights-to-flag victory to seal her second title having only needed a top five finish to win the championship, with Powell unable to produce another Race 1-style fightback having been held up by Belén García. Local driver Sabré Cook, who had been uncompetitive all season having struggled with a hip injury, was taken out of a points finish by Hawkins in the final laps.^[29]

Round	Circuit	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Race Winner	Winning Team	Report
1	Spielberg	Alice Powell	Alice Powell	Alice Powell	Racing X	report
2		Jamie Chadwick	Jamie Chadwick	Jamie Chadwick	Veloce Racing	report
3	Silverstone	Alice Powell	Alice Powell	Alice Powell	Racing X	report
4	Budapest	Jamie Chadwick	Jamie Chadwick	Jamie Chadwick	Veloce Racing	report
5	Spa-Francorchamps	Jamie Chadwick	Emma Kimiläinen	Emma Kimiläinen	Écurie W	report
6	Zandvoort	Emma Kimiläinen	Alice Powell	Alice Powell	Racing X	report
7	Austin	Abbi Pulling	Alice Powell	Jamie Chadwick	Veloce Racing	report
		Jamie Chadwick	Jamie Chadwick	Jamie Chadwick	Veloce Racing
Source:[30]

Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers as follows:^[31]

Pos. Driver SPI1 SPI2 SIL BUD SPA ZAN AUS Points 1 Jamie Chadwick 6 1 3 1 2 2 1 1 159 2 Alice Powell 1 8 1 2 4 1 3 6 132 3 Emma Kimiläinen 13 3 4 6 1 3 2 3 108 4 Nerea Martí 7 7 5 3 8 4 8 8 61 5 Sarah Moore 2 4 7 15 13 9 7 4 56 6 Fabienne Wohlwend 3 10 2 Ret 7 16 9 Ret 42 7 Abbi Pulling 8 7 4 2 40 8 Beitske Visser 12 11 6 5 DNS 12 5 5 38 9 Irina Sidorkova 8 2 14 4 WD 13 34 10 Belén García 4 9 17† 8 14 8 12 7 28 11 Jessica Hawkins 16 16 16 10 6 5 6 15 27 12 Marta García Ret 12 12 7 3 18 15 DNS 21 13 Abbie Eaton 15 6 9 13 10 6 Ret DNS 19 14 Miki Koyama 5 18 Ret 12 9 10 10 12 14 15 Bruna Tomaselli 11 5 11 9 15 17 17 11 12 16 Caitlin Wood 17 5 13 10 11 17 Ayla Ågren 10 14 15 11 DNS 15 16 9 3 18 Gosia Rdest 9 17 16 2 19 Vicky Piria 17† 15 10 16 12 11 14 14 1 20 Sabré Cook 14 13 13 14 11 14 11 13 0 Pos. Driver SPI1 SPI2 SIL BUD SPA ZAN AUS Points Source:[31]

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap † — Did not finish, but classified

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