The 2021 W Series was the second season of the W Series motor racing championship, replacing the 2020 season after it was cancelled due of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1] The championship was exclusively open to female racing drivers as a Formula Regional-level racing series in support of the 2021 Formula One World Championship.^[2]

Jamie Chadwick entered the season as the defending W Series champion, having won the title in 2019.^[3] Chadwick secured her second consecutive championship, winning the 2021 title at the season finale race, at Circuit of the Americas.

Entries

The following drivers and teams made up the grid for the 2021 W Series season. All teams used Hankook tyres, and ran two mechanically identical Tatuus F.3 T-318 cars with two drivers.^[4] All cars were operated by Fine Moments, and 'teams' were purely for sponsorship and identification purposes.^[5]

Team No. Drivers Rounds Puma W Series Team 3 Gosia Rdest 1–2 19 Marta García All 20 Caitlin Wood 4–5 49 Abbi Pulling 3, 6–8 W Series Academy 3 Gosia Rdest 5 20 Caitlin Wood 7–8 32 Nerea Martí All 51 Irina Sidorkova 1–6[a] Bunker Racing 5 Fabienne Wohlwend[b] All 37 Sabré Cook All Écurie W 7 Emma Kimiläinen All 44 Abbie Eaton All Sirin Racing 11 Vicky Piria All 54 Miki Koyama All M. Forbes Motorsport 17 Ayla Ågren All 95 Beitske Visser All Racing X 21 Jessica Hawkins All 27 Alice Powell All Scuderia W 22 Belén García All 26 Sarah Moore All Veloce Racing 55 Jamie Chadwick All 97 Bruna Tomaselli All Source:[8] Reserve drivers No. Drivers 3 Gosia Rdest 20 Caitlin Wood 31 Tasmin Pepper 49 Abbi Pulling 99 Naomi Schiff

Driver changes

The top twelve drivers from the 2019 championship were all qualified for the 2020 season,^[9] leaving eight vacancies in the driver line-up. Forty new drivers applied to take part in the season; however, only fourteen of those took part in the first test which took place between 16 and 18 September 2019 at the Circuito de Almería [es], Spain.^[9][10] The final 18 drivers were announced on 17 December 2020, with the possibility of more being announced at a later date.^[11] A list of five reserve drivers was announced on 11 June 2021, comprising 2019 drivers Gosia Rdest, Naomi Schiff and Caitlin Wood, British F4 podium finisher Abbi Pulling, and Tasmin Pepper, who was unable to take part in the season due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions.^[12]

Championship changes

Hitech GP announced on 14 November 2020 that they would discontinue their involvement for 2021 as they moved into new series,^[13] and Fine Moments took over their role for the 2021 season.^[14] The series continues to use the same Tatuus T-318 Formula 3 chassis and Alfa Romeo engines.^[15] On 24 June 2021 W Series announced it would pivot from a centrally-run series format to a team-based structure with assigned drivers and control over the car livery and team overalls, as well as the team name. The 2021 season would be used as a transitional season, with an unofficial teams' championship and all outfits still being centrally run, but with a vision for a fully team-structured grid and a legitimate teams' championship for the 2022 season.^[5] Prioritising the importance of driver skill within the championship, and to ensure technical equality, all 18 cars, although sporting a variety of liveries and team names, will remain mechanically identical, with preparation and maintenance managed by W Series Engineering.^[5] Hankook was initially dropped as the tyre supplier for the 2021 season due to the move from the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters to F1 support bill,^[13] and W Series was reportedly "speaking to a number of tyre suppliers". On 5 May 2021, however, W Series announced Hankook would continue to supply tyres for the 2021 season.^[4]

Calendar and results

The series management announced on 12 November 2020 that the season would consist of eight rounds all held in support of the 2021 Formula One World Championship.^[16] A provisional calendar was then revealed on 8 December 2020.^[17] After Formula One made slight amendments to its calendar, the W Series moved its first event from Circuit Paul Ricard to the Red Bull Ring.^[18] Later on in the year, when Formula One postponed the 2021 Mexico City Grand Prix, the season finale was shifted from the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez to the Circuit of the Americas.^[19]

Round	Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Race Winner	Winning Team	Report
1	Red Bull Ring	26 June	Alice Powell	Alice Powell	Alice Powell	Racing X	report
2		3 July	Jamie Chadwick	Jamie Chadwick	Jamie Chadwick	Veloce Racing	report
3	Silverstone Circuit	17 July	Alice Powell	Alice Powell	Alice Powell	Racing X	report
4	Hungaroring	31 July	Jamie Chadwick	Jamie Chadwick	Jamie Chadwick	Veloce Racing	report
5	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	28 August	Jamie Chadwick	Emma Kimiläinen	Emma Kimiläinen	Écurie W	report
6	Circuit Zandvoort	4 September	Emma Kimiläinen	Alice Powell	Alice Powell	Racing X	report
7	Circuit of the Americas	23 October	Abbi Pulling	Alice Powell	Jamie Chadwick	Veloce Racing	report
8		24 October	Jamie Chadwick	Jamie Chadwick	Jamie Chadwick	Veloce Racing
Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
-	Circuit Paul Ricard	26 June	Replaced with a second race at the Red Bull Ring
-	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez	30 October	Replaced with a second race at the Circuit of the Americas
Sources:[18][19][20]

Championship standings

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers as follows:^[21]

Drivers' Championship

Pos. Driver RBR1 RBR2 SIL HUN SPA ZAN COA1 COA2 Points 1 Jamie Chadwick 6 1 3 1 2 2 1 1 159 2 Alice Powell 1 8 1 2 4 1 3 6 132 3 Emma Kimiläinen 13 3 4 6 1 3 2 3 108 4 Nerea Martí 7 7 5 3 8 4 8 8 61 5 Sarah Moore 2 4 7 15 13 9 7 4 56 6 Fabienne Wohlwend 3 10 2 Ret 7 16 9 Ret 42 7 Abbi Pulling 8 7 4 2 40 8 Beitske Visser 12 11 6 5 DNS 12 5 5 38 9 Irina Sidorkova 8 2 14 4 WD 13 34 10 Belén García 4 9 17† 8 14 8 12 7 28 11 Jessica Hawkins 16 16 16 10 6 5 6 15 27 12 Marta García Ret 12 12 7 3 18 15 DNS 21 13 Abbie Eaton 15 6 9 13 10 6 Ret DNS 19 14 Miki Koyama 5 18 Ret 12 9 10 10 12 14 15 Bruna Tomaselli 11 5 11 9 15 17 17 11 12 16 Caitlin Wood 17 5 13 10 11 17 Ayla Ågren 10 14 15 11 DNS 15 16 9 3 18 Gosia Rdest 9 17 16 2 19 Vicky Piria 17† 15 10 16 12 11 14 14 1 20 Sabré Cook 14 13 13 14 11 14 11 13 0 Pos. Driver RBR1 RBR2 SIL HUN SPA ZAN COA1 COA2 Points Source:[21]

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap † — Did not finish, but classified