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FIA promotes female motorsport participation

Motorsport governing body the FIA has established a new group in order to push for woman to be more involved in the sport. Named the Women & Motor Sport Commission (WMC), the committee is headed by World Rally winner Michele Mouton and staged its first meeting on Monday.

Lella Lombardi, a Formula 1 points scorer in the mid 1970s

Since the Formula 1 World Championship was inaugurated in 1950, just one woman has achieved a points finish so far, as Italy's Lella Lombardi scored half a point for March at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix on the streets of Montjuic, Barcelona.

However, Paris-based FIA now hopes to encourage more female participation in the sport. "The FIA's membership around the world comprises men and women," said FIA President Jean Todt. "Each has an identical part to play in sport.

"Like many international federations, we will support, promote and help advance the participation of women in motorsport to ensure equal opportunities at all levels."

"Women already have their place in motorsport, they have proved it," added Mouton, who won four WRC events in the 1980s.

"But for many years people have asked me why there have been no women following in my footsteps. I really hope the commission can help answer that question and that we can attract and support women in all areas of our sport."

Lella Lombardi

Country: Italy

Birth/Death: 1943-1992

Series: Formula One

Facts:

Her family didn't have a car growing up, supposedly she fell in love with cars while being driven to the hospital.
She started working for a race driver and eventually he let her race with him and she begin to win.
She became the first woman in 17 years to qualify for F1.
Lombardi holds the record for the most appearances by a female F1 driver with 17 races.
In 1975 she was the first woman to ever score a point in the World Championship with her 6th place finish at the Spanish GP.

Watch a video tribute to Lombardi.

Shocking News ~ Literally

Ferrari and Renault offer cheaper KERS

Following a meeting of the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) on Wednesday, Ferrari and Renault have submitted low-cost proposals for a return to the sport of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), which is out of use this season due to a universal agreement between teams.

Introduced for the start of 2009, KERS allowed drivers to enjoy a brief horsepower increase in order to aid passing although a selection of teams - including Williams, which developed a revolutionary flywheel-powered device - elected not to run the system, which costed anything in the region of 8 to 20 million pounds.

As Formula 1 cars can become charged whilst KERS is in use, warning signs must be displayed for safety reasons

However, the Grove team's Technical Director has now revealed that the system could return. "Basically, Ferrari and Renault put forward proposals that they could do KERS for less than a million euros (£870,000 approx)," Sam Michael told Reuters.

"Those have been accepted but what Ferrari and Renault are both saying is that, unless we increase the energy level from the current 400 kilojoules up to 600 or 800 - to make KERS more beneficial - they are not prepared at this stage to commit that they will actually do KERS."

The Australian added that a final FOTA decision regarding KERS for 2011 hopes to be in place by next weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, noting that Renault would supply any team wishing to purchase the system whereas Ferrari would provide its unit to those using its engines (ie. Sauber and Toro Rosso as well as its works outfit).

Wednesday also involved discussions regarding tyre supply for next year; with Bridgestone departing the sport, Michael confirmed that the most likely replacement would be either Michelin or Cooper Avon.

Räikkönen not rejecting F1 comeback

Kimi Räikkönen has said that he will not rule out a return to Formula 1, placing neither it nor the World Rally Championship at the top of his current agenda. The 2007 F1 title winner switched from circuit racing to rallying for this season, having been replaced at Ferrari by fellow Champion Fernando Alonso.

Driving a Citroën C4 for the Red Bull Junior Team this year, it naturally took little time for speculation to arise linking Räikkönen with Mark Webber's F1 seat for 2011, although the Finn remains matter-of-fact.

"It's not turned in any direction and I am in no hurry to make decisions," Kimi, who scored his first WRC points at this month's Rally of Jordan, told Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat.

"We have to see what is possible, what is the most interesting option and what I enjoy most, when it comes down to it. I will decide at some point later this year."