Time to take female drivers seriously

Not being female puts you on dangerous ground when it comes to attempting to empathise with a young girl with aspirations of making it as a driver in the male-dominated world of motorsport.

But one thing is clear: while seeing female role models competing on level terms with their male counterparts can only be positive, the patronising attitude of some, albeit well-meaning, observers is corrosive.

So many times, a female driver doing adequately, but no better than that, in a championship or race is raved about in terms more befitting of the second coming of Juan Manuel Fangio. It's great to see female drivers competing and there really should be more of them, but the implication of such disproportionately effusive comments is clear, not to mention destructive.

If you are going to shout about a female driver doing an average job, the only logical conclusion is they are worthy of significant praise because you consider it to be a minor miracle they can hold a steering wheel, let alone park in a pit box. It's casual sexism, simple as that.

Don't claim this is encouragement, because it isn't. It is patronising and insulting. When judging female drivers, focus on the driver bit, not the gender part of the equation.

This is the fundamental sexism at the heart of motorsport holding back its all-inclusive credentials in the 21st century. If you're going to be patronised as doing brilliantly because you finish 16th, is that not effectively creating some kind of glass ceiling of achievement that shouldn't exist?

Patrick grabbed pole position for the Daytona 500 this year © LAT

The going is tough for female drivers because there is so much prejudice, but this attitude can't help.

Danica Patrick is the classic example of how a female racing driver can become a negative influence on the cause of greater equality in motorsport largely through how she is portrayed by the wider world.

She is a decent racing driver, significantly above average, as she proved during her IndyCar career. Drivers do not finish fifth in that championship, win a race and take pole positions if they are not any good.

Likewise, in NASCAR she's made an OK start in a hugely difficult category. Taking pole position for the Daytona 500 is heavily car-dependent, but an achievement nonetheless. It's still far too early to make any definitive judgements on her as a stock car driver.

What there is clear evidence of is the backlash. In the United States, there are plenty of people who have become fed up of Patrick being pushed as a superstar. Those trying to bandwagon on the back of what has been a successful, but not spectacularly so, racing career have done the cause of female racing drivers a disservice. Again, she is perceived as a curiosity rather than a competitor in her own right.

In rejecting her as a female Mario Andretti, many unfairly condemn her as having little ability. Partly, it's their fault for initially buying into the hype, but any category that perceives its female drivers primarily as a PR-grab - which is pretty much all of them - is making a significant contribution to the problem.

Better to hold up Patrick as exactly what she is. A decent, capable racing driver able to sustain a professional career at the top level. There aren't many drivers able to claim such a status and what she has achieved is impressive. Rightly, she can be called a role model on that basis.

Women can drive racing cars just as well as men and given equivalent sample sizes, you would likely find that the spread of ability across two groups of either genders is about the same.

Simona de Silvestro currently competes in IndyCar © LAT

The oft-cited physical barriers are a red herring and many driver coaches cite females as far better at assimilating information and direction.

At the top level, most drivers have a similar level of fundamental ability and that capacity to analyse and modify technique is what marks out the great from the average. So the barriers are not mental or physical, they are social.

Having dabbled personally in club motorsport, there have been plenty of occasions when I have been beaten by female drivers. It's no more or less frustrating than losing out to male drivers, but there were some individuals on the same grid who exhibited genuine anger when defeated, suggesting that there are still plenty of old-world prejudices to be overcome.

In order for female drivers to be given a fair chance, these attitudes must change. Alarmingly, you could make a case that females are less accepted today as drivers than they were in the early years of grand prix racing, when there were a number of capable drivers competing at a high level.

Female drivers must not be condescended to. They should not been seen as glorified grid girls, a sponsor gimmick or a unique selling point. At the same time, those with aspirations of making it as drivers should be very wary of projecting themselves that way. That said, with money the key to progress, that must be a very fine line to tread for aspirants.

Motorsport is a cut-throat business and ideally only the very best should reach grand prix racing. Equality means that female drivers should be given exactly the same opportunity to attempt the near-impossible task of making it as a grand prix driver.

There will be female drivers in F1 again in the future and there is no reason why it will not be entirely on merit. Hopefully then, the floodgates will open.

When that happens, everyone, including the media, must take the responsibility to take them seriously as drivers, not some kind of sideshow.

Elite sport is a tough business. That's why a female driver in F1 being given just as hard a time as everyone else will surely be the best role model of all.