Women Racing Cars: Jamie Chadwick Is Paving the Way in Motor Sports

Jamie Chadwick is succeeding against the odds. The 26-year-old racing driver has risen from 11-year-old rookie to one of the most decorated female racers of all time. Now, she's turning her success into positive change for the generations that will come after her.

"Ultimately, the rate of success in motor sport is very small. The percentage that make it to the top is very small. But at the same time, if we can just increase the levels of participation, particularly for women, then it's only going to make the odds greater for anyone to progress to the higher levels," Chadwick, who is from the Isle of Man in the British Isles, told Newsweek.

Chadwick started her career in karting, switching over to cars two years later. She found success quickly, getting a seat in an Aston Martin V8 Vantage on a team with Aston's factory driver Ross Gunn, achieving two wins and five podiums in 2015. Her win in the Silverstone 24 Hours race made Chadwick the first female and youngest-ever first place trophy holder of the British GT Championship. She switched to single-seat racing in 2017, becoming the first-ever woman to win a British F3 race. She then raced in the W Series, an all-women single-seater racing championship from 2019 to 2022, earning three championships in the three years the series raced.

For the 2023 and 2024 seasons, Chadwick raced in the Indy NXT series, which put her behind the wheel of a vehicle she had never raced before. This year, Chadwick turns her attention toward endurance racing and will be behind the wheel of an LMP2 car in the European Le Mans Series, as part of a Genesis Magma Racing collaboration with IDEC Sport.

"Jamie has proven herself to be one of the best female drivers of her
generation...We're confident that, with us and the Genesis Magma Racing team for our European Le Mans Series debut this year, Jamie's obvious drive, talent and ambition will help make the next step [in] her journey just as—and hopefully more—successful," Cyril Abiteboul, president of Hyundai Motorsport GmbH and team principal of Genesis Magma Racing, said.

"Her passion for racing is unmatched and she brings such enthusiasm to every project she's involved in." He added: "A key commitment of Genesis Magma Racing is to nurture talents from different backgrounds, including female drivers and those who have followed different career paths within racing, but haven't yet found the results we believe they can achieve at the top level. Jamie, alongside Mathys Jaubert, is the first stage of us living up to that promise.

When Chadwick started racing, she didn't notice that she was one of the only girls on the track, telling Newsweek that she was "blissfully ignorant" of the gender disparity.

"I went about racing just because I loved it. I just enjoyed it. I didn't really think too much about it being so male-dominated," she said.

But because of the gender disparity, she didn't see many women in the sport she could look up to. "If I had more role models, it would have helped," she added.

What she lacked in role models, she had in mentors. "I was fortunate. I did have female mentors kind of early-ish in my career and that definitely helped," she said.

One of those who Chadwick leaned on is Susie Wolff, a Scottish professional race-car driver who is now the managing director of the F1 Academy, a female-only, Formula 4-level single-seater racing championship series founded by the Formula One Group.

"I think I was racing in juniors at the time, so I was about 14 and reached out to Susie as one of the very, very few female figures at the top of the sport for advice. More than anything, I wanted to know next career steps. I wasn't from a racing family, so any support and advice I could get I was open to and kind of desperate to have," Chadwick said.

Wolff was eager to help. She told Newsweek: "This sport has given so much to me, so when I hung up my racing helmet a decade ago, it felt like it was time to give something back. I want the next generation of young women to learn from my successes, but also from the mistakes I made along the way. This is an incredibly tough sport and there is only ever one winner, so learning to cope with failure and having mentors that can support you on your journey is invaluable."

Chadwick is using the lessons she's learned from her time in the sport to create positive change for women. The Jamie Chadwick Series, a campaign and junior racing series designed to increase female participation in karting, was launched in 2024 in partnership with Daytona Motorsport. The program is free, solving one of the major obstacles for prospective drivers of both sexes.

Chadwick has done more than just compete and win; she's built the Jamie Chadwick brand. Many athletes are leaning in on their personal brand development as a way to fund their sports dreams, gaining sponsors and fans in the process.

"The sport is incredibly expensive. It's a huge financial barrier for so many people to participate in. I think being able to establish great partnerships and sponsorships with different brands isn't just important from a personal point of view, but also from a sporting point of view. Often, you know, I wouldn't have the chance to race without them," she said.

Anna Glennon, E1 World Championship and Team Miami powerboat racer, has done similar. "When I first started my career in jet-ski racing, my father told me I needed to learn how to market myself and build a brand—because he didn't want to be paying for all of it. At the age of 15, that wasn't what I wanted to hear, but it ignited a decade of hard work and brand building which built my 'Jet Girl' brand online," she said.

"The biggest lesson I have learned is that being a creative marketing asset, having an engaged community and being a positive role model has offered me more opportunities than any trophy has," Glennon continued. "I'm very fortunate now to be in a position where I make a living off of a combination of racing opportunities and brand deals. It's a lot of work (as I do all of the work on my own) but when the plates start feeling heavy, I think of how badly the 15-year-old racer wanted a seat at this table."

In its first year, the Jamie Chadwick Series led to a 1,900 percent increase in female competitive karting and a 400 percent increase in casual participation. Two-hundred percent more girls tried the sport for the first time, helping to make the series the UK's biggest all-female karting initiative.

For year two, the series has introduced two age categories: Cadets (8-11) and Juniors (12-15). Entrants will participate in nine races through December 2025. Earning a spot in the F1 Academy may be the next step for girls in the program.

Chadwick is a mentor for F1 Academy and fellow Williams Racing driver Lia Block. Wolff said: "In my role with F1 Academy, we want to show women the opportunities available to them in our sport and send out a simple message: you belong here.

"When I look around the paddock on a race weekend, I can already see the impact that the existence of young female role models, like Jamie, is having on the sport. What we're creating now is more than just a moment, it's a movement."

Sven Smeets, sporting director at Atlassian Williams Racing, concurs. "Jamie is a powerful role model for women, both within and beyond the world of motor sport," he said. "Her unwavering commitment to breaking down barriers in our sport is truly inspiring and we are honored to support her journey year after year.

"At Atlassian Williams Racing, we are committed to creating pathways for young talent to enter F1, and Jamie's work perfectly aligns with this mission. From offering her the opportunity to drive an F1 car for the first time in 2023—when she took the wheel of Keke Rosberg's FW08C at the Goodwood Festival of Speed—to now supporting her in her second year as an adviser to our F1 Academy driver, Lia Block, we are proud to have Jamie as part of our team."

Today, there are no female F1 drivers, but the first one may already be in the pipeline thanks to programs by Chadwick and the F1 Academy. "I think we can't rush this process. Formula 1 is the highest level now we see of motor sport. There are 20 drivers, and as a percentage, that's a tiny, tiny percentage," Chadwick said.

"I think we just need to increase participation. Be patient. We shouldn't rush to try and find a female Formula 1 driver, but I think we need to find more professional female drivers in motor sport in general, and more female drivers. And I think from that, time will allow a female Formula 1 driver in the future."