from
https://jalopnik.com/the-w-series-hasnt-paid-drivers-prize-money-report-1850595450?utm_campaign=Jalopnik&utm_content=1688157000&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR1xaiR2SNmhSf4FgGOgjDtp51PMlRv1NZ6gtaYfMzMuK8a04-zuFdKgpAE

The W Series Hasn't Paid Drivers' Prize Money: Report
The women's-only championship has also apparently gone bust
By
Ryan Erik King
PublishedYesterday
Comments (4)
Jamie Chadwick holding the W Series Championship Trophy in 2019

What is a championship trophy worth without any prize money?
Photo: Dan Istitene (Getty Images)
A racing driver’s road to Formula 1 is rough and costly. Nearly every
driver on the junior ladder has to pay their teams to compete, and the
vast majority of drivers are also male. W Series aimed to flip the
script by recruiting a field of drivers to compete in a fully-funded
championship for a $1.5 million prize purse. However, the women’s-only
series ran into financial difficulties which cut its 2022 season short
and led to the organization’s bankruptcy early this month. Now, several
drivers have stated that they haven’t received any prize money for last
season.

Watch
Broadway Star Wendell Pierce Is a True Formula 1 Fan

Alice Powell and Abbi Pulling confirmed to TopGear.com that they didn’t
receive any prize money for their results in the 2022 season. Powell is
owed $125,000 for her third-place finish in the championship. Pulling is
owed $100,000 after she secured fourth in the standings. TopGear.com
also reports that Jamie Chadwick hasn’t been paid $500,000 for winning
her third consecutive W Series championship. Other drivers have been
hesitant to speak out worrying that it would damage their future career
prospects in motorsports.

W Series entered administration in the United Kingdom earlier this
month, an insolvency procedure similar to bankruptcy in the United
States. There is a search underway to find a prospective buyer to
salvage the unique competition. The sale proceeds would then be used to
pay creditors, presumably including the drivers. Again, that would only
happen if a buyer is found and it’s decided to pay out prize money.

Image for article titled The W Series Hasn't Paid Drivers' Prize
Money: Report
Photo: Dan Istitene (Getty Images)
While the prospect of W Series being revived is appealing to its
dedicated core of fans, the competition is flawed as a commercial
product. The competition aimed to capitalize on the swell of new young
F1 fans and investment into women’s sports while somehow overcoming the
obvious shortfalls of its position in the racing landscape.

W Series was openly a developmental series. It was positioned to develop
and advance female drivers up the ladder to Formula 1. It also needed to
be an attractive product from television broadcasters and corporate
sponsors, but the drivers are the most marketable aspect of any racing
series. How was W Series supposed to be financially sustainable while
hoping its best talent moved on toward F1 as quickly as possible?

The demise of W Series isn’t surprising, but it’s definitely
disappointing. Formula 1 has created F1 Academy to fill the void, but it
was originally intended to serve as a cost-controlled feeder category
for W Series. Driver development isn’t financially self-sustaining, and
the demographic makeup of the drivers who make it to F1 won’t change
unless vested interests at the top want to spend the money to change it.

Show all 4 comments

On 7/3/2023 11:18 AM, a425couple wrote:
> from
> https://jalopnik.com/the-w-series-hasnt-paid-drivers-prize-money-report-1850595450?utm_campaign=Jalopnik&utm_content=1688157000&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR1xaiR2SNmhSf4FgGOgjDtp51PMlRv1NZ6gtaYfMzMuK8a04-zuFdKgpAE
>
> The W Series Hasn't Paid Drivers' Prize Money: Report
> The women's-only championship has also apparently gone bust
> By
> Ryan Erik King
> PublishedYesterday
> Comments (4)
> Jamie Chadwick holding the W Series Championship Trophy in 2019
>
> What is a championship trophy worth without any prize money?
> Photo: Dan Istitene (Getty Images)
> A racing driver’s road to Formula 1 is rough and costly. Nearly every
> driver on the junior ladder has to pay their teams to compete, and the
> vast majority of drivers are also male. W Series aimed to flip the
> script by recruiting a field of drivers to compete in a fully-funded
> championship for a $1.5 million prize purse. However, the women’s-only
> series ran into financial difficulties which cut its 2022 season short
> and led to the organization’s bankruptcy early this month. Now, several
> drivers have stated that they haven’t received any prize money for last
> season.
>
> Watch
> Broadway Star Wendell Pierce Is a True Formula 1 Fan
>
> Alice Powell and Abbi Pulling confirmed to TopGear.com that they didn’t
> receive any prize money for their results in the 2022 season. Powell is
> owed $125,000 for her third-place finish in the championship. Pulling is
> owed $100,000 after she secured fourth in the standings. TopGear.com
> also reports that Jamie Chadwick hasn’t been paid $500,000 for winning
> her third consecutive W Series championship. Other drivers have been
> hesitant to speak out worrying that it would damage their future career
> prospects in motorsports.
>
> W Series entered administration in the United Kingdom earlier this
> month, an insolvency procedure similar to bankruptcy in the United
> States. There is a search underway to find a prospective buyer to
> salvage the unique competition. The sale proceeds would then be used to
> pay creditors, presumably including the drivers. Again, that would only
> happen if a buyer is found and it’s decided to pay out prize money.
>
> Image for article titled The W Series Hasn't Paid Drivers' Prize
> Money: Report
> Photo: Dan Istitene (Getty Images)
> While the prospect of W Series being revived is appealing to its
> dedicated core of fans, the competition is flawed as a commercial
> product. The competition aimed to capitalize on the swell of new young
> F1 fans and investment into women’s sports while somehow overcoming the
> obvious shortfalls of its position in the racing landscape.
>
> W Series was openly a developmental series. It was positioned to develop
> and advance female drivers up the ladder to Formula 1. It also needed to
> be an attractive product from television broadcasters and corporate
> sponsors, but the drivers are the most marketable aspect of any racing
> series. How was W Series supposed to be financially sustainable while
> hoping its best talent moved on toward F1 as quickly as possible?
>
> The demise of W Series isn’t surprising, but it’s definitely
> disappointing. Formula 1 has created F1 Academy to fill the void, but it
> was originally intended to serve as a cost-controlled feeder category
> for W Series. Driver development isn’t financially self-sustaining, and
> the demographic makeup of the drivers who make it to F1 won’t change
> unless vested interests at the top want to spend the money to change it.
>
>
> Show all 4 comments

Good opportunity for the sports-washing bone saw crowd to curry favor.

a425couple <a425couple@hotmail.com> writes:
> the demographic makeup of the drivers who make it
> to F1 won’t change unless vested interests at the top want to spend
> the money to change it.

What is the evidence for these "vested interests"?
It sounds like conspiratorial thinking to me.

Phil
--
We are no longer hunters and nomads. No longer awed and frightened, as we have
gained some understanding of the world in which we live. As such, we can cast
aside childish remnants from the dawn of our civilization.
-- NotSanguine on SoylentNews, after Eugen Weber in /The Western Tradition/