How W Series' standout star took the challenge to its champion

Heading into 2021, much of the discussion around W Series centred on Jamie Chadwick and her fight for a second crown. Chadwick duly won out, but only after a season-long battle with Alice Powell, who came into the final double-header level on points and almost stole the show

Updated Dec 2, 2021, 5:05 PM

Having finished third in the inaugural season of W Series in 2019, Alice Powell wasn’t exactly an underdog coming into this year. But unlike some of her competitors, including the reigning champion, she didn’t have a regular seat elsewhere to fall back on for race sharpness when the COVID pandemic forced W Series into a hiatus in 2020.

Her 2020 was spent largely on the sidelines and by the time W Series 2021 got underway at the Red Bull Ring in June, she hadn't raced a car for 10 months - and even then it was the boxy Jaguar I-Pace in that championship's Berlin farewell the previous June. Her last competitive single-seater outing had been in the August 2019 W Series finale at Brands Hatch, her only win of the 2019 campaign.

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Author Megan White

Megan White is Autosport’s News Editor and Formula 2 and 3 reporter.

She began her career in national news after graduating from Kingston University, working at SWNS and the Evening Standard, with a stint working in communications in the music industry.

Megan made the switch to motorsport in 2021, swapping covering COVID and Brexit as a Digital News Editor at LBC for F2, F3 and W Series. Her love of cars began as a child, but her passion for motorsport was ignited after watching the Senna documentary. She has since also developed a fondness for MotoGP.

Away from motorsport, Megan enjoys collecting records, seeing live music and ice hockey.