It was a turbulent start to the new season for British racing driver Jamie Chadwick, marked by bumps and scrapes on the track. But the three-time W series champion says she is loving the challenge of Indy NXT, despite finishing 13th in her debut race at St. Petersburg in Florida. 

Chadwick hopes competing in the Indy NXT Series will bring her closer to her future goal of one day securing a spot on a Formula 1 Grand Prix grid. 

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She is unfazed at being the first female to drive in the all-male Indy NXT series since 2010.

"Honestly, it doesn't make a difference being the only woman in the championship," she says. 

"Prior to the W series, in everything I'd done, that had been the case. So that's not really something I think too much about. When you progress in any sport, it's always going to be a bit daunting. 

"There's always an element of anticipation, not knowing fully what to expect. But at the same time, I feel very well prepared. I've got a great team around me with Andretti and I feel confident that we can have success."

'I feel I'm on my way'

Chadwick joined the Williams Racing Academy in 2019, following in the tracks of its former winners. She is also now backed by Andretti Autosport and at just 23, is no stranger to success, ruling the women's W series in recent years. 

"It's kind of shaped the last few years but it's always been about continuing and stepping up and continuing that ultimate goal of getting to Formula 1," she says. "But there's still a long way to go to get to that point. There's a lot of success I need to have in the relative categories, but now that I've made this jump, I feel I'm on my way to that."

Although there are no rules to prevent women competing in Formula 1, no female racing driver has raced in a Formula 1 Grand Prix since 1976. When funding problems caused the W series to crash to a halt last year, it left female drivers quite literally with nowhere to turn. 

Since then, Formula 1 has announced it is launching an all-women's academy to fill that gap for young female drivers. Chadwick believes there should now be no barriers to women getting ahead in the world of motorsport.

'We're desperate to see a woman succeed'

"I think we are now in a position where we are desperate to see a woman succeed and have success in motorsport, which we haven't seen for a number of years," she says. "So, I definitely feel that pressure, but for now I can only focus on what I can do and do the best at that. 

"When I don't qualify on pole, I don't think it's because I'm a woman that I've done that. That being said, there are physical factors, there are so many other factors that make a Formula 1 driver a Formula 1 driver, and we need to understand that and make sure the women are perfectly capable as well as the men."

Chadwick is confident she can win on the track against male rivals, with more female drivers not far behind her. 

"It's definitely realistic," she says. "I look at the sport and I genuinely don't think there's anything that is stopping me from progressing. There are things that have changed, or needed to change that are ultimately happening. 

"I look at a lot of young girls coming through now, particularly in karting and F4 level and I'm really excited for them as well, because I think there's this big shift and there's this big interest now with women in the sport."

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