The one thing W Series needs in 2020 to continue its rise

W Series was very successful in 2019. Inaugural champion Jamie Chadwick stepped outside the motorsport media bubble and captured the spotlight in the mainstream. In doing so she not only highlighted her talent but, as the Brands Hatch season finale proved, she is inspiring the next generation and helping the series make steps in improving female representation in motorsport.

That's one hell of a first year, and, for the championship, it makes 2020 all the more difficult. For every great second record (think Nirvana's Nevermind), there's a litany of 'difficult second albums'. The challenge for W Series is to build on its starting success.

When Autosport asks W Series CEO Catherine Bond Muir what it needs to achieve in 2020, the somewhat surprising answer is "storytelling". But when you examine the 2019 season more closely, that was indeed lacking.

And that was hardly an issue considering the W Series' very existence was the main narrative, as were the various unknowns that accompany brand-new championships.

Putting that aside, though, Chadwick's title threats were fleeting, and there were no dramatic twists and turns along the way. There were flashpoints, such as Alice Powell's airborne shunt at Misano, then-18-year-old Marta Garcia winning at the Norisring, and Emma Kimilainen returning from two rounds out to take victory at Assen, but there were no sustained storylines that will likely live in the memory.

"Our first year was all about showing what female drivers can do," Bond Muir tells Autosport. "And I think we did that really successfully. We answered a lot of our critics' criticisms, I think all of them, but some of them still have their views, of which they can have. We introduced drivers, female drivers, to the world.

"What this year has got to be about is storytelling. I'm not just a motorsport fan, I'm a sports fan. The real engagement that audiences have with any sport is when they understand characters, and the stories behind the sport, and the individuals.

"So for me what's really important [in 2020] is that people actually get to know who Jamie is, who Beitske Visser, Marta Garcia and Emma Kimilainen are, and all the rest. It is about storytelling and obviously, every sport wants to grow their audience, but I think we really need to grow our audience significantly in the UK and across the world.

"What we want to do is become as well-known as something like Formula E."

FE is a pertinent example of how certain factors can impact reach and storytelling. Its first-ever race in Beijing threw up the dramatic Nick Heidfeld/Nico Prost crash as they fought for the lead at the final corner, but the 10-week break before its second race immediately cost the series momentum.

The W Series calendar suffers in a slightly different way. Only six 2020 races have been announced so far, although there is the potential for more to be added. When one bad weekend can effectively rule a driver out of title contention, or one good weekend can create a fleeting but unsustainable challenge, it means the series is up against it in creating an overarching narrative.

"Women in a competitive situation will be more collaborative. We know all the stories about all the young boys when they're put into a competitive situation together" Catherine Bond Muir

But there's potentially a bigger psychological factor to consider. Most motorsport followers can recall a rivalry that defined their favourite era of fandom, whether it was Ayrton Senna vs Alain Prost, Matt Neal vs Jason Plato or Ford vs Ferrari, but W Series appears unlikely to create its own versions.

As the W Series was finding its feet in 2019, in the same paddock the DTM had Rene Rast and Nico Muller's intra-team rivalry, and Audi's dominance against a wilting BMW effort as main storylines. Ask Bond Muir if the W Series needed a similar level of rivalry to help storytelling last year, she says: "I wanted it and expected it.

"And I wanted it at the outset because I thought that was all part of the unit of good storytelling. But actually - and you've heard this from everyone, we're not making this up or PR-ing it - everyone got along really well, like a big family.

"What the drivers were impressively good at was becoming very highly competitive on the track but [also], off-track, being very supportive of each other. I've just been speaking to someone in sports science and sports psychology, and he thinks that may be a difference between men and women.

"So actually, women in a competitive situation will be more collaborative. Whereas we know all the stories about all the young boys when they're put into a competitive situation together. So, that maybe is something that is not just W Series [specific] but is actually [because of] women."

For those of a sensitive disposition, that's not gender point-scoring.

Those differences have been at the centre of many studies regarding emotional intelligence in sporting environments. Researchers from the University of St Gallen in Switzerland analysed more than 8000 grand slam tennis matches and concluded that women tended to perform better in high-pressure situations than men, which would, in theory, lessen the likelihood of ill-tempered or controversial rivalries that are usually gold dust for a championship in terms of storylines.

All of those factors mean that the W Series' approach to storytelling will have to be unconventional when compared to other championships. But there is a desire at W Series to experiment and react to feedback to create a championship that engages and resonates with audiences beyond its mantra of 'changing the face of motorsport'.

The reversed-grid race at Assen is the most obvious example, a successful trial that produced a thrilling race and a new unlikely winner in Megan Gilkes, but there were also promising smaller steps - including improving the branding and identity of drivers on track after criticism from fans watching on TV early on. That's an approach the series wants to keep in 2020.

David Coulthard, the ex-McLaren Formula 1 driver who is W Series' chairman of the advisory board, summarises it perfectly. He says it's about wanting "to have my mind opened by the younger generation who are challenging things. So actually, that's maybe how you have to do it [grow]. It's a wonderful thing".

While nothing has been confirmed, Coulthard says he is "absolutely" in favour of having further experiments with the racing format and adds: "We want feedback as well. What have [fans] always wanted to see? And if we have enough people supporting that, why not try it?"

But before heading into the realms of the theoretical - the W Series has created stronger foundations for 2020 regardless of storytelling. By securing ROKiT as its first major sponsor it not only received a financial boost but also vindication that there's a belief in its sustainability and viability.

The headline-grabbing off-season news was undoubtedly securing superlicence points for 2020, even if it means a champion will now have to move on from the series after a title win. With the desire to get a female driver back on the grid in F1, the importance of superlicense points is obvious.

W Series will hope the fight to dethrone Chadwick will be the 'story' it needs to help its rise continue

Yet there is a potential pitfall here too. The W Series' prize fund - $500,000 for the champion - is a serious amount of cash. While Chadwick returning makes practical sense considering the new superlicence points and her growing profile, it is alarming that the money - not that that alone should be solely relied on - was unable to secure a step to the next level, as she admits FIA Formula 3 was a step too far for 2020.

When it comes to W Series potentially doing more to help drivers move up the ladder, Bond Muir says: "There's lots of ways of answering that question. There are lots of different aspects to that question. The first being that it is a lot of [prize] money but I think Jamie staying in W Series is about not going on into different series too quickly.

"There is many a ruin made in a motorsport championship where people have wanted to go on to [the next level] quickly. And actually, there's nothing wrong with staying in one championship for a couple of seasons.

"Even if Jamie doesn't win this year, I wonder whether she'll go on and do International F3 anyway. One assumes that she will do very well. But I think she would have had a couple of years [in W Series by then] and maybe some of the drivers think: 'Right, we've done W Series for a couple of years' [and move on].

"So the question is, do we have to fund our drivers to go off into their next race? Well, actually, all we can do is control our own environment. If drivers are going to become really, really successful they do have to stand on their own two feet. It's a big bad world out there, and for us to hold their hands forever I think is unrealistic."

But those are longer-term concerns for the W Series, and in 2020 it should at the very least have the narrative of whether Chadwick can be beaten.

The reigning champion entered the series with more contemporary 'F3' experience than her rivals, but with a year of racing experience there's a feeling within W Series that Chadwick will face sterner opposition this year.

"There's going to be a bit more of a mixture of ones up front - people have had a year under their belt now, they know what the car is about, and quite a few of the tracks too," says W Series race-winner Alice Powell.

"So I think we're going to probably see some new faces on the podium. And I think the racing is going to be even tougher."

With new additions Anderstorp and Igora Drive, and returning frontrunners Powell, Garcia, Kimilainen, Visser and Fabienne Wohlwend headlining the 2020 field alongside Chadwick, the W Series will hope the fight to dethrone its inaugural champion will be the 'story' it needs to help its rise continue.