Women lack mental aptitude for Formula 1 - Moss

[nenevomito]

Former British racing driver Sir Stirling Moss believes women do not have the mental skills to race competitively in Formula 1.

BBC news story HERE

So, is it down to lack of metal ability, or is it because like most sports, F1 and other car racing is still male dominated, so women may not have the same opportunities?

[Boredwench]

Eaurouge....thanks (nice reference to Spa BTW)

Yeah I love their response to him, most of the blokes these days ignore him too, he's from a bygone era when it was the done thing to drive fast then go chasing 'crumpet'.

It's so frustrating that women on the whole are on the cusp of making fully established into the top echelons of motorsport driving, in all the top temas (can't speak for the lower series stuff) it really is irrelevant what you're gender is. I think about Le Mas racing and how one of Audi's top race engineers is a woman, how the head technician at Shell fuel is a woman, and so on.

I have no doubt an F1 driver has a very rich and varied life, but yeah they all seemed obsessed with living in the gym...well putting aside Hekki who seems stuck on the golf course 24/7.

Sticking my neck out slightly I don't think it helps the feminist cause when we have female fans who choose their favourite driver based on looks and charm etc...cough cough Jenson Button. There's lots of informed women out there and thank gawd social media is helping to break down the walls of inequality in that respect. I think people make the mistake of basing their viewpoint on F1 from the tiny sexist snippets of tv coverage and thigns read in the press. Whenever I go up Silverstone or Monza etc I see nearly equal amounts of men and women in the normal public grandstands, the rich seats though I will say are a different story though, it's typically some rich man with his dolly bird.

Contrast that to other less popular motorsports events and I often feel like the only thing in a skirt up there (Silverstone).

[Boredwench]

OMG...should learn to proof read...

Le Mans racing......and note Le Mans in reference to the place in France, nothing to do with 'men'!!.

[EauRouge]

I know what you mean. I'm a huge Kubica fan and people's reaction when I tell them is usually and followed by them pointing out that he's no oil painting. Who cares? They all look the same with their helmets on anyway. I don't fancy him, I just think he's massively talented and I was gutted when he had that rally crash.

I'd say about 50% of the F1 fans I know are women. It was my mum that got me into it back in the 80s, my dad has a passing interest but my mum is a huge fan. We've had blazing rows about F1 in the past

[EauRouge]

Sorry, didn't clarify. I think a lot of people just expect women to like sport because they fancy the athletes, not because they like the actual sport. I've had people try and explain things like downforce and tyre wear to me because clearly that kind of thing needs a penis for you to fully understand it

[freddykins]

Man's an idiot. I'm a life-long F1 fan, I really believe it'll happen soon.

It's worth bearing in mind, every time they harp on about Giovanna Amati not being able to qualify the 1992 Brabham, that a certain Mr Damon Hill only managed to qualify it twice ...

If not Susie Wolff, then another woman will be there damn soon. The fact that we now have 2 prominent female team leaders bodes well.

[boxershorts]

formula one seems a dumb game for speed nuts

[Boredwench]

Very informative boxersorts....let me guess 'football' your thing

[Boredwench]

Freddykins...I agree re the Brabham...it was a dog of a car!!

[freddykins]

Boredwench Exactly! I barely remember it as it was a long time ago, but frankly the DNQs speak for themselves. Not a reflection on all women drivers for all time ...!

[Boredwench]

I think it's a generational thing that'll improve naturally with the time...

As various sports and pursuits have become de-masculinised (is that a word??!!) I think it'll naturally improve without the need for artifical quotas etc. I look at my peer group (late 20's early 30's) and we're too late to go 'properly' racing etc but the amount of traditionally blokey things that are now seen as the norm is a marked difference to my parents generation. Also the men of this age group are much more used to women on a level playing field and there's much less deliberate isolation and ridicule. No doubt room for improvement but things are on the up in certain areas etc...

[JenaiMorris]

This has been an interesting read, particulalry posts from those (you know who you are) who have some actual links with motorsport.

[JenaiMorris]

Is anyone here involed in karting? I must have seen 70 at least 10-15 year olds race, of whom only two are girls. If this is typical and it doesn't change, it gives a very, very small pool of talent to recruit from.

[Boredwench]

Jeni...I'm not involved in karting so I couldn't comment but that doesn't surprise me. The actual 'drivers' side of the whole motorsport industry is the most sexist, there's defo female drivers out there I only tend to notice them popping up at the highest junior levels (ie stuff such as the Ginetta Racing Series). Oddly enough I think America (for all it's ills) does quite well in comparison with a handful of women competing in the top Indycar series.

I think I forgot to mention earlier was aswell as seeing a genuine winning female driver (we don't want to see special aids used as an excuse) there's also the danger factor to deal with. I know the F1 world was rocked to its core at Maria's accident last year, it seemed even more unpalatable to see a beautiful woman nearly decapitate herself and the appalling subsquent injuries. Motorsport is much safer these days but I think the danger side is often unappreciated in the mindset of viewers. It's along similar lines to seeing female soliders mutilated and killed in frontline army service, something the general population isn't comfortable with (in relative terms, as no injury/death is enviable).

[DeepRedBetty]

Really interesting to read stuff by people involved in current F1 and motorsport... I have to admit most of my direct knowledge came from listening in to conversations after meals when df was still alive and used to have old racing friends over for Sunday lunch etc, so stopped in 1980 .

[grimbletart]

F1 in its early days is a whole different sport to F1 today really. As an oldie I remember dad taking to me to Silverstone in 1950 as a little girl to watch the first-ever grand prix won by Farina -in an Alfa Romeo. Never forgotten it, or the subsequent years I went to see F1 with all those wonderful early drivers, especially Fangio, arguably the greatest of all.

It was a horrendously dangerous time to drive GP cars and many of my 'heroes' were killed - Collins, Salvadori, Lewis-Evans, Rindt, Peterson, Jim Clark and and many others, including of course in later years, Senna.

I guess Moss's attitude is simply those of the 1950s where girlies were expected to don pinnies and wash dishes leaving all the mentally challenging stuff to the blokes.

Funnily enough as F1 has become ever more about strategy and not simply a blast from pole to chequered flag, and drivers have multi buttoned steering wheels on which they adjust downforce, see
www.autoweek.com/article/20130128/f1/130129798
perhaps we should take advantage of the stereotype of women being able to multi task to say that they should be well at home in an F1 car.

[EauRouge]

Grimble, my granddad was at that race, and the 1951 one. He still has the programmes with all the lap times that he's written in.

It has really changed now, it's all geeks with computers. The technology is amazing, I don't think many people realise that a lot of the safety features on their road cars began in motor racing.

[grimbletart]

adjusting downforce was simply an example of course...they an do pretty much everything except make a cup of tea.....

[JenaiMorris]

Bored, one of those two girls is blinding. It's really got up the noses of some of the junior alpha male types. I always will her to win - she's a far better driver than the ones who rely purely on aggression and flooring it. If anyone out of that lot is going to excel in the racecraft someone quoted Jenson talking about upthread, it'll be her.

[JenaiMorris]

Bored, one of those two girls is blinding. It's really got up the noses of some of the junior alpha male types. I always will her to win - she's a far better driver than the ones who rely purely on aggression and flooring it. If anyone out of that lot is going to excel in the racecraft someone quoted Jenson talking about upthread, it'll be her.

[grimbletart]

EauRouge wow they must be collectors' items now. Get him to hang on to them, they might make you a pretty penny in the future. Don't let him do what I did - throw out all my wonderful pristine copies of the Eagle and missed out on a small fortune .

[ticklycough]

I actually grimaced when I heard this on the radio when I was driving to work this morning. What was the man thinking?!

DisorganisednotDysfunctional: Interesting hypothesis, but I just googled Damon Hill and he has (if anything) a thinnish neck...so not sure if this is true. Possibly a myth spread by men perhaps!!

[EauRouge]

He says I can have them when he's gone, like hell will I be selling them though! I've also got some gorgeous Ferrari prints that a friend gave me, I really need to get around to getting them framed. There's an amazing one of Eau Rouge.

[grimbletart]

Lucky you! I bet you remember Webber's stunning overtake of Alonso up EauRouge. 2011 I think?

Am derailing thread, sorry.

[Fillyjonk75]

It's a bit like saying men aren't clever enough to be primary school teachers. Can be hard to people to break into something which is dominated by the other sex.

[ImperialBlether]

I laughed my head off this morning when I heard this. I really thought it was an April Fool joke. The poor bugger sounded so earnest when he was talking, as though anyone listening would think, "My god, that man has a good point!"