Controversial Sky Sports Formula 1 pundit Danica Patrick has had one of her theories rubbished by 13-time race winner David Coulthard ahead of the upcoming new season
David Coulthard has rubbished the suggestion that women are not cut out for Formula 1 after female racing legend Danica Patrick questioned whether female racers have “what it takes”.
American racer Patrick is one of the foremost female names in all of motorsport. She was the first woman to win an IndyCar race and also has seven more podiums in that series, while she also has 191 starts in NASCAR to her name.
But in her punditry work – and for her vocal political support of Donald Trump – she has become a divisive figure. And despite her position as a role model for young girls everywhere, Patrick has previously voiced her doubt over whether any female driver could make it to the pinnacle of single-seater racing.
She said: “It takes 100 guys to come through to find a good one, and then it takes 100 girls. That takes a long time to find a good one, right? It’s just, the odds are not in favour of there always being one or being many of them.
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“At the end of the day, I think that the nature of the sport is masculine. It’s aggressive. You have to handle the car – not only just the car because that’s skill, but the mindset that it takes to be really good is something that’s not normal in a feminine mind, a female mind.”
Lella Lombardi remains the last woman to have started an F1 race, in 1976, and one of only two female racers in the sport’s 75-year history to have qualified for one. In 2014, Susie Wolff drove in a practice session for Williams but failed to land a race seat and has gone on to become a successful motorsport executive as CEO of F1 Academy.
Despite that near miss, and the fact no other female driver has taken part in an official F1 session in over a decade, 13-time race winner Coulthard is adamant that a woman will one day succeed in the sport. “Of course it will happen,” the Scot told the Daily Mail.
“Without question. It’s utter bulls*** that women don’t have the strength to do it. Anyone who doesn’t train doesn’t have what it takes to perform in motor racing – whether you’re a man or a woman. An untrained person doesn’t have the strength to do anything.
“I’m 53 and I wouldn’t be able to drive an F1 car quickly for more than 10 laps in my physical condition, now that I’m on the other side of my peak of fitness. I had to train like an athlete twice a day, with a trainer, for years, to be able to do my job. You can either do a fast lap time or you can’t… Sport is about delivery.
“It’s not my opinion that there will be a woman in F1 – it’s just a fact. But I can’t tell you right now who that person is. I assure you that every single F1 team would sign someone up right now, if they thought they could get that person.”
