How Are Female Drivers Paving the Way to F2 and F3?

Formula 2 & Formula 3
Author: Lütfi Mete Odabaşı
Creation: 19 October 2026

What keeps female drivers away from F2 isn't talent; it's money, test kilometers, and cars that aren't designed for them.

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For female drivers, the biggest obstacles on the road to F2 and F3 are not seats, but money, testing kilometers, and cars not designed with them in mind. F1 Academy, with its super license points and the rungs of the higher series, is truly opening the first right of this ladder; yet there is still not a single female driver on the F2 grid. Here is exactly how that ladder works, where it gets stuck, and where Turkish drivers stand in this picture.

Highlights

F1 Academy is a female driver series at the Formula 4 level; it enters its fourth season in 2026.
The F2 champion with 40 points receives the super license directly; for the F3 champion 25 points is not enough, and another season of racing is required.
The estimated total cost until being ready for F1 is over 5 million euros.
The FIA has flagged the fact that F2 and F3 cars are designed around the average male driver as a problem.
The first woman to race in F1 was in 1958 Maria Teresa de Filippis; the first woman to score points was Lella Lombardi.

How the Ladder Works: The Road from Karting to F1

F1'e giden tek yol kartingden başlayan merdiveni tırmanmaktır; zirvenin anahtarı ise üç sezonda toplanacak 40 süper lisans puanı.

Think of single-seater racing as a ladder. The bottom rung is karting, then F4, above that Formula Regional, then F3, and at the very top F2. To reach F1 you have to climb this ladder. Even Turkish-language sources summarize this roadmap briefly as "karting, F4, F3, F2, and from there F1" - because that really is how it works.

The keyword here is the super license. To race in Formula 1 you need an FIA Super License, and its conditions are clear: within a 3-season period you must accumulate 40 points be over 18 years of age, pass the FIA theory exam, and hold a valid road driving license. Where do you get the points? Based on the strength of the championships. The F2 champion takes all 40 points in a single season and secures the license. The F3 champion, however, has to settle for only 25 points; meaning at least one more season of racing, usually in F2, is required. The Formula Regional championship is worth 20 points, while the F4 championship is worth 12. Let's also add that points are collected from the best results of at most three consecutive seasons, and that a driver must complete at least 80% of a season.

Series	Champion Points	Runner-up Points	Impact on F1
Formula 2	40	30	Full super license in a single season
Formula 3	25	18	One more season required
Formula Regional	20	-	Middle rung of the ladder
Formula 4	12	-	Entry rung

To show how scarce points can be, the Colton Herta example is a perfect match: the American driver moved from IndyCar to F2 for an F1 super license; to reach 40 points he needed to finish in the top 8 of the standings. In 2023 he missed out on the AlphaTauri seat precisely because of this points shortfall. So the points system is not an obstacle specific to female drivers - but it does show how harsh the ladder is.

What Does F1 Academy Actually Do?

F1 Academy is a female driver series racing at Formula 4 level. Its aim is to provide a platform for the transition from karting to single-seaters and beyond. Now you might ask, "F4 already exists, why a separate series?" Here is the answer: the problem is not the number of seats, but the chance to reach those seats. The number of female drivers is very low starting from karting; when the pool is small, the upper tiers remain empty too. F1 Academy is trying to grow this pool.

The structure of the series is also noteworthy. The 2026 season is the series' fourth season; 18 drivers are on the field at each race weekend - 17 full-time and one Wild Card. Each team runs 3 cars, and each of the 10 F1 teams supports one driver. Drivers must be between 16 and 25 years old at their first race weekend. In 2026 there are 11 rookies, and 5 of them are graduates of the 2025 Wild Card program. So the series truly serves as a feeder. Not only drivers but also brands are interested: alongside McLaren's Oxagon entry, drivers supported by partners such as TAG Heuer, American Express, Gatorade, LEGO, PUMA and Sephora are on the grid.

F1 Academy's most critical contribution is on the points side: drivers can earn FIA Super Licence points. According to the initial announcement, the top five in the Drivers' Standings earn points. A driver can collect a maximum of 39 points in a weekend - this also shows how intense the format is. Moreover, the format offers far more track time than F2 or F3. So the series provides not just visibility, but a real development opportunity.

There is one more concrete step: FIA F3 gave four female drivers a full-day testing opportunity to get to know the category and the car. In addition, two F1 Academy drivers stepped up to the higher machines - Sophia Floersch tested with the F2 car, and Chloe Chambers with the F3 car. Small steps perhaps, but these are the first knots in the rope reaching toward the upper rungs of the ladder.

Real Examples: Jamie Chadwick and the Al Qubaisi Sisters

Theory is nice, but let's look at real career paths. Jamie Chadwick started karting relatively late, at age 12, following in her older brother's footsteps. In 2017 she moved to single-seaters in British F3 with Double R Racing; she took one podium and finished the championship 9th. Although she achieved a win in her second season, she did not see her future in single-seaters - she turned to GT racing and won a class victory at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. She then won two single-seater championships starting with W Series in 2019. Note: the striking part of the story is that a talent whose path was blocked even within the single-seater world could reach championships through other doors. But when W Series collapsed financially, Chadwick finding a seat in FIA F3 became difficult due to the rising costs in the industry.

The path of UAE's Hamda Al Qubaisi reads like a more recent textbook. She started her single-seater career in 2019 with Italian F4, and in 2021 she signed a historic first. In 2023 she joined MP Motorsport alongside her sister Amna; Red Bull signed its three female drivers - Hamda, Amna Al Qubaisi and Emely de Heus - for MP Motorsport. Hamda finished her first F1 Academy season third with 4 wins and 7 podiums - Marta Garcia was champion and Lena Bühler second. The following year she opened in Jeddah with P9 and P5, closing the season with 4 wins and 10 podiums. After her two-year F1 Academy spell, she moved to F4 Middle East and is currently racing for Team Virage alongside her sister in the Ligier European Series.

There is a debate here too: the series' two-season limit. Supporters say it pushes drivers toward higher series; critics argue this push does not always come with a practical seat in a higher series, meaning it can leave women halfway there. Hamda's return to F4 Middle East is actually a living example of this tension - F1 Academy is over but the F3 door is still far away.

On the upper steps, the picture looks bright: Doriane Pin, backed by Mercedes, won the 2025 F1 Academy championship on her second attempt with 4 wins and has a 100 percent scoring rate across two seasons. Among the standout names on the 2026 grid are McLaren-backed Ella Lloyd (2025 Rookie of the Year), Red Bull-backed Alisha Palmowski and Ferrari-backed Alba Larsen. There are signs of a breakthrough in the higher series too: Leonardo Fornaroli won back-to-back F3 and F2 championships and became a McLaren reserve driver in 2026 - so the ladder works; the question is how far women drivers can climb it.

So Why Is There Still No Female Driver on the F2 Grid?

Money: The Real Gate of the Ladder

Let's be honest: the heaviest step of this ladder is the wallet. Look at the estimated annual costs - karting runs 50-100 thousand EUR per year (lasting 4-6 years), F4 is roughly 200-500 thousand EUR, Formula Regional 300-600 thousand EUR, F3 around 1 million EUR, and F2 between 2.3 and 3.5 million EUR. The total need up to being F1-ready is estimated at a minimum of over 5 million EUR F2's roughly 3 million dollar entry price is a topic of debate in the industry; F2 and F3 management are working on cost-reduction measures, but the price still makes jaws drop.

A partial solution lies in F1 team academies: programs like the Red Bull Junior Team, Ferrari Driver Academy and Mercedes Junior Programme select roughly 50 drivers globally per year and cover 80-100 percent of the costs. But leaving an academy usually means losing funding. For women drivers to enter these selections, they first need to be visible from karting onward - and the scarcity of visible female drivers makes it hard from the start for girls to dream of a career in motorsport. This is exactly where the vicious cycle turns.

Car Design and the Physics Debate

The second big headline is the car itself. The FIA wants to make mandatory changes to create opportunities for women in F2 and F3; possible measures include mandatory power steering. The source of the problem is cited as the cars being designed around the average male driver. Standard series have no power steering, which places steering forces directly on the driver's shoulder and neck muscles. Seat fit is a separate issue - seats that do not match female drivers' body dimensions further increase the muscular load.

Let's also add this: not everyone is on the same page. Some argue that the perception of physiological differences is exaggerated and that the real problem is opportunity and infrastructure. Others believe that race cars require endurance rather than physical strength, and that once design issues are fixed, this can be overcome too. The real picture is probably somewhere in between: car design and lack of infrastructure feed into each other.

And history should not be forgotten: there was never an official restriction. Maria Teresa de Filippis became the first woman to race in F1 at the 1958 Monaco GP; Lella Lombardi went down in history as the first female driver to score points in 1975. So the door was always legally open - if the problem was the ladder, the money, and the design that would allow entry, then that was the problem.

Where Are Female Drivers from Türkiye on This Ladder?

On the Türkiye side, the picture is mixed but there is hope. Sena Savaşer is introduced as Türkiye's first female Formula driver in her social media posts, with a story told of her transition from karting to Formula. Additionally, it is claimed that a Turkish female F4 driver tested a 2024 FIA-approved F4 car at Cremona in Italy for two days - as presented, this goes down as a first in Formula history, but this information comes only from social media and video sources; there is no verified biographical record yet. For this reason, it is best to read it with caution.

On the karting side, there are concrete names: Ayşe Çebi became the Türkiye Karting Champion in the senior category at the age of 17 and says she started karting after being inspired by F1. Nilhan Yeşiltay, a Karting Akademi athlete, was the fastest name in the qualifying sessions in Uşak and returned with a podium. The 2026 Türkiye Karting Championship calendar is also set: the first race on April 11-12, 2026 at the Bursa BSB Karting Track, and the second race in Kocaeli.

Where Turkish female drivers truly shine is rally. Burcu Çetinkaya holds the title of the first Turkish female driver to score points in WRC history. Burcu Burkut Erenkul is Türkiye's youngest female rally champion; she also started with karting. Kübra Denizci Keskin is Türkiye's and the world's first disabled female rally driver; she is targeting the 2026 Türkiye Rally Championship. So female drivers are being trained in Türkiye - when we will see the first Turkish woman climbing the single-seater ladder is a separate question.

Will We Really See a Female Driver in F1?

There are reasons to be optimistic. F1 Academy is now a structure that involves all F1 teams, awards super licence points, and has serious brand support. Drivers like Doriane Pin are proving they are ready for the higher series by collecting nearly every point over two seasons. FIA F3 giving female drivers test opportunities and the FIA requesting changes in F2/F3 car design show that the door is being opened technically as well as rhetorically. Even Formula E held a women-only pre-season test, a first for an FIA championship - the wave is spreading across all of motorsport.

But we must also be realistic: the triple obstacle of money, test kilometres and team seats cannot be solved by a single series alone. Aston Martin ambassador and former W Series driver Jessica Hawkins' view sums up the hope in the industry - it is said we may see a female driver on the F1 grid within the next few years. I would like to share that belief; moreover, F1 Academy's fourth season and the rookies coming up through the Wild Card are making this possibility stronger with every season. I ask you too: would you like to see the first female F1 champion? Because the ladder is truly being built, step by step.