LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Jamie Chadwick earned her first points toward a Formula One superlicense on Sunday after finishing fourth overall in the Asian F3 series at the Buriram circuit in Thailand.
The 21-year-old W Series champion and Asian F3 race winner secured 10 points toward the 40 needed over a three-year period to be able to compete in Formula One.
The all-female W Series will also offer license points this year, after an inaugural season without any in 2019, and the 2020 champion set to gain 15.
With 25 points, a driver can take part in Friday first practice at grand prix weekends and Chadwick would qualify for that if she retains her title.
Dutch driver Joey Alders won the Asian F3 title for 18 super license points with Red Bull junior driver Jack Doohan, son of five-times 500cc motorcycle champion Mick, runner-up and Russian Nikita Mazepin third.
No woman has competed in Formula One since 1976 but Chadwick, a development driver for the Williams team, is raising hopes that she could be the one to end that long absence.
She will also drive an all-electric Jaguar Formula E car at a rookie test in Marrakesh on March 1.
Separately, the W Series announced on Sunday that its 2020 drivers will undergo a training program with the help of experts including retired Olympic heptathlon gold medalist Jessica Ennis-Hill and snooker champion Jimmy White.
White, the current snooker world seniors champion, will “demonstrate the art of concentration and precision”, series organizers said.
The first race of the W Series season is in St Petersburg, Russia, in May.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond)
