Former racing driver David Coulthard looking for first female F1 world champion

A thirteen time grand prix winner has put his weight behind a campaign to find Formula One’s first female world champion. 

David Coulthard, from Dumfries and Galloway, has co founded the More Than Equal programme which is dedicated to closing the performance gap for women and girls in motorsport.

The former F1 champion's drive for the project stems from something he remembers as a teenager.

Growing up in Twynholm, rural Dumfriesshire, he and his sister Lynsay raced karts from a young age and spent many weekends on local circuits like Rowrah in Cumbria. 

Coulthard says his sister was a formidable opponent and had great talent but slipped out of the system - like many other young females.

“When I got the call out from Jackie Stewart when I was 17, the focus sort of went on me because it looked like I was on a run towards being able to be a professional race driver, so she didn't get the same level of support and eventually her career sort of petered out,” he explained.

“I felt that she had the talent to be a professional.

“There’s thousands of boys go into karting every year with the hope of being Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen, but there's only a handful of girls go into karting because they don’t get encouraged to do it in the same way or they don't believe there's a route towards having a career at the other side of it. 

“So what we want to do is encourage more young girls into karting.”

There are currently no female racing drivers in Formula One, something the new programme hopes to change. 

He said: “But it’s not about tokenism. We're not going to take someone that's showing just normal driving characteristics and, you know, try and then sculpt them into something more - they've got to show that natural talent and we’ll give them the support that they need at the earliest stage possible.

“There are already lots of young girls in the sport competing very favourably with the boys but as they get older it becomes more segregated".

Mr Coulthard says better talent detection at an early stage is needed, as well as the right funding and professional support to give young women the same opportunities that many young men seem to get.

Performance group Hintsa, which provides physical trainers for many F1 drivers, is part of the programme and it has found "no evidence that there are physical or psychological barriers in preventing women from reaching the top of the sport if given the appropriate support and training."

“So there are prejudices and barriers to overcome,” said Coulthard, “And that’s one of the first things we need to do if we want to see more young women reach their potential in racing".

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