She became the inaugural W Series champion last year, when she also finished fourth in the Formula 3 Asian championship, securing 10 of the 40 points required for an F1 superlicence. There are 25 points on offer to this year’s Formula Regional European champion.
The Prema deal was agreed just days after Chadwick learned that she would not be defending her W Series title this year. The championship was cancelled until 2021, due to the difficulty of rearranging the Covid-19-hit season.
She had already started to work with Rodin, developing a single-seater car for private track use. Jamie is an exceptional racing talent,” said David Dicker, founder of the New Zealand company. “We are taking a long-term view on this in fully supporting her journey as she moves up the ladder towards F1.
“We want to see Jamie flourish and hone her abilities as a world-class racing driver in competitive racing on the global stage.”
Susie Wolff was the last female to drive a Formula 1 car during a race weekend, when she took part in practice sessions for Williams in 2014 and 2015. Giovanna Amati unsuccessfully tried to qualify her Brabham during three 1992 races.
Maria Teresa de Filippis and Lella Lombardi are the only two women to have started a Formula 1 race, in 1958 and 1959, and 1974 to 1976 respectively.
