As Formula E is set to get launch its season with pre-season testing in Spain today one of the features that has been grabbing headlines is the plan to hold the first all-female test session to allow the best female talent in the world to show their skills but who are the drivers that are going to be involved?
Jaguar
Jaguar are the defending constructors champions coming into this season and they have confirmed that Jamie Chadwick and Lilou Wadoux will be driving their car in the all-female test. Chadwick is one of the better known female drivers having won all three seasons of the female onle W Series before moving to compete in Indy NXT where she has one race win and finishes 7th in the championship.
Lilou Wadoux also has some racing pedigree under her belt – driving in IMSA this year she took victory in LMP2 category at the Six Hours of The Glen race and took a victory at the six hours of spa-francorchamps in the World Endurance Championship.
Andretti
Andretti have opted to go with two drivers who are competing in the F1 sponsored all-female F1 Academy series.
Chloe Chambers has been competing for Campos Racing where she currently finds herself sat fourth in the standings ahead of two double-headers in Quatar and the UAE to end the season, through the season she has won one race in Barcelona and finishes on the podium a futher two times (one in the other Barcelona race and once in Miami).
Alongside Chambers Andretti have opted for Spanish driver Nerea Martí, who finished the 2023 F1 Academy season in fourth place and currently this season sits in fifth place she has also secured three podiums this season.
Envision
Envision have gone for an exciting mix of youth and experience for their testing pair firstly they have selected Alice Powell.
Powell hasn’t raced full-time since the end of the 2022 W Series season but has remained in Motorsport as a development driver for Envision she also has experience travelling with the Formula E championship as she competed in the Jaguar iPace eTrophy which was a support race for Formula E and finished fourth in standings in 2020.
She will be joined by Alisha Palmowski, a 17 year old British racing driver, who grabbed the motorsport worlds attention by becoming GB4 vice champion in her first season racing Formula cars. She achieved 3 wins and 11 podiums on her way to becoming vice-champion.
DS Penske
DS Penske have also opted for a young driver who only recently made the switch to single seaters. Jessica Edgar is 19 years old and raced her first full season in the 2022 GB4 championship where she finished seventh. She went on to race in F1 Academy in 2023 where she notched up a win and four podiums on her way to finishing eighth, so far this year she has continued to face in F1 academy as well as a few appearances in the British F4 Championship.
Also testing for DS Penske will be Beitske Visser, most recently she finished second in the 2022 W Series championship and finished 2nd in class at the 2023 24 Hours of Nurburgring. This isn’t her first time around the Formula E world as she served as a test and reserve driver for Andretti back in 2019.
Nissan
Nissan has opted for two drivers who fans of the Formula 1 support series’ will be aware of with Abbi Pulling who is currently leading the F1 Academy series with ten podiums and seven wins to her name in addition to a victory and currently sitting fourth in the British F4 Championship.
She will be joined by Sophia Flörsch who has spent time most recently racing in Formula 3, prior to that she finished fifth in class at the 2022 24 hours of Le Mans.
McLaren
McLaren have opted to stick with two drivers from their Driver Development program, the first of which is Bianca Bustamante, who is the McLaren sponsored driver in the F1 Academy series, in her debut season she claimed two victories and finishes seventh in the championship which is also where she currently finds her self in this seasons standings ahead of the final four races.
She will be joined by 19 year old Welsh driver Ella Lloyd who only made her single seater debut in March at the Formula Winter series but she has gone on to race a full season in British F4 where she finished 11th in the championship alongside four podiums. In addition she was selected as a wildcard entry in the F1 academy race in Singapore where she scored eight points.
Porsche
Porsche’s lineup for the test includes F1 Academy champion Marta Garcia who won seven races on her way to winning the titles last year, this year she has competed in the Formula Regional series and Ligier European Series where she claimed two wins and currently finished in eighth place in the championship.
Joining Garcia is Gabriela Jílková who is one of Porsche’s Formula E sim and development drivers, outside of Formula E she has been competing in the Indian Racing League where she currently find herself sixth in the standings.
Maserati
Maserati have selected Carrie Schreiner as one of their drivers for the all-female test, she is currently racing in F1 Academy where she is sponsed by Sauber F1 team alongside appearences in Formula 4 series in the UK and UAE so far this year.
Also racing with Maserati will be Tatiana Calderón who is currently competing in the IMSA SportsCar championship. In Formula E she spent some time as a test driver for DS Techeetah back in 2019 and also spent three seasons as a test driver for Alfa Romeo in Formula 1. In 2022 she made appearences in IndyCar and Formula 2.
Mahindra
The final three teams have chosen to only field one driver for the test and for Mahrindra that driver will be Léna Bühler.
Bühler finished as vice-champion in 2023 F1 Academy series and is a member of the Sauber Driver Academy.
Kiro Race Co
Simona de Silvestro will pilot the Kiro car for the test she is no stranger to Formula E having made two starts for Andretti back in 2015 and also in a test and development role for various teams since then most recently for Porsche in 2023. She has also made numerous appearences in IndyCar since her debut in the series in 2010.
Lola ABT
Completing the lineup is Lola’s entry for the test, Miki Koyama, a Japanese driver currently cometing in Super GT and other series in Japan. She competed in W Series in 2021 and went on to win the Formula Region Japanese Championship in 2022.
So which driver are you most excited about seeing race in the Gen 3 Evo car. The Formula E all-female test will take place on Friday 8th November 2024 at 2pm CET.
