W Series cancelled with planning underway for 'bigger and better' 2021 season

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W Series on Thursday cancelled the entire 2020 season and will not return to race until next year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The all-female motor racing series, which launched last year, was due to begin its second season last weekend in St Petersburg. But with lockdown affecting much of the sporting calendar, including its major support championship DTM, plans were put on hold last month. However, while DTM have since created an adapted calendar, W Series on Thursday instead said they would be focusing all their efforts on a 2021 calendar, and scrapping this season entirely. It means W Series drivers, including defending champion Jamie Chadwick, will have to wait until 2021 to compete for FIA Super Licence points to put towards Formula 1 eligibility, which were due to be introduced to the championship for the first time this year. "Our decision not to stage on-track races until 2021 is not one that has been taken lightly," said W Series chief executive Catherine Bond Muir in a statement. "Delivering an international calendar of the kind that W Series requires, so as to take W Series’ diversity and inclusion message to girls and women globally, while prioritising during a global pandemic the health and safety of our drivers, staff and the many other people who make W Series events such a success, requires resource at a level beyond the scope of a brave new start-up." "Now that we have taken the very difficult but ultimately unavoidable decision, we will focus our energies clearly on 2021 when we will resume bigger and better than ever before." Two W Series race weekends were planned to be held with Formula One this season for the first time, and Bond Muir on Thursday confirmed that those plans would remain in effect for 2021. "We are already working on an exciting new W Series race calendar for 2021, and we are delighted to be able to confirm that W Series races will feature on the support cards of a number of F1 Grands Prix next year, including the 2021 United States Grand Prix and the 2021 Mexican Grand Prix."

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