Formula E will run an all-female session during its official pre-season test for the 2024-25 campaign in November.
It has been organised to help accelerate the growth of women drivers in world championship single-seater machinery and will be the second time the all-electric series has held a female test after Diriyah in 2018.
For that session in Saudi Arabia, teams were only allowed to start with two cars if one was driven by a woman, which resulted in nine female racers taking part.
In 2024, all 11 teams are mandated to run at least one female driver, but encouraged to field two in the latest Gen3 Evo cars which are set to make their debut in the upcoming season.
Jeff Dodds, Formula E CEO, said: “We know there isn’t a simple solution for greater diversity in motorsport.
“If we’re going to truly give women equality, opportunity and visibility in our series, however, conditions for all need to be the same to aid their development and test themselves against those already on the starting grid.
“Unlike other series where women drivers have to use old or restricted machinery, they’ll be using the state-of-the-art Gen3 Evo car that accelerates 30% faster than an F1 car, just as our championship drivers do.
“We also recognise that one test will not solve the longstanding issue, but we have to start somewhere, knowing there is a long way to go and making sure we’re making proactive, consistent steps that continue to make forward progress.”
When is the Formula E all-female test?
Date: Thursday 7 November 2024
Start time: 1pm GMT/2pm local time
The Formula E all-female pre-season test will take place on Thursday 7 November 2024 and is scheduled to run for three hours, starting at 1pm in the United Kingdom and 2pm local time in Valencia.
It will be held at Formula E’s version of Circuit Ricardo Tormo, a 2.098-mile track on the outskirts of the Spanish city that was part of the championship’s 2021 calendar.
This will occur during pre-season testing on the 4-7 November. The afternoon session of the final day is exclusive to female drivers who will have already competed in a wide range of motorsport championships.
Formula E will stage this test ahead of its Sao Paulo season opener on the 7 December, where Pascal Wehrlein arrives as the defending champion having pipped two-time runner-up Mitch Evans to his maiden crown.
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Who is competing in the Formula E all-female test?
There are 12 drivers who have so far been confirmed for Formula E’s all-female test in November. Andretti was the first team to confirm its full line-up and that will consist of F1 Academy pair Chloe Chambers and Nerea Marti, who respectively sit fourth and fifth in that championship.
Chambers, 20, is currently affiliated with the Haas Formula 1 Team but will switch to representing the Red Bull Ford Academy Programme next season.
The American's single-seater career dates back to 2021, where she contested the Formula 4 United States Championship. She has since progressed to W Series, the Formula Regional Oceania Championship and F1 Academy, winning this year's second race in Barcelona.
Marti is also a race winner in the all-female series, as she won at Circuit Paul Ricard in 2023, yet this season the 22-year-old has three podiums but no victories. Her single-seater career goes back to 2019 with Spanish F4, with Marti also part of the W Series alumni.
McLaren was next to confirm a driver, as 19-year-old Ella Lloyd will drive for the British squad having recently joined its development programme. This comes after starting her career in 2022, where the Welsh driver competed in the Ginetta Junior Championship before progressing to Ginetta GTs the following year.
In 2024, Lloyd competed across various championships like the Formula Winter Series and British F4 before racing at F1 Academy’s Singapore round in September as a wildcard entry, where she finished ninth and seventh in the two races.
Lloyd will be partnered by Bianca Bustamante, who has been part of the McLaren Driver Development programme since October 2023. That came after an encouraging F1 Academy season in which the Filipino claimed two victories - Valencia and Monza - en route to seventh in the championship.
Envision Racing has also announced both its drivers, as Alisha Palmowski and Alice Powell will test for the British outfit. Palmowski is a BRDC Rising Star, having won the 2022 Ginetta Junior Scholarship before finishing runner-up in this year’s GB4 Championship.
The 18-year-old won on her GB4 debut at Oulton Park in March leading to her becoming one of the final 10 candidates for the 2024 Silverstone Autosport BRDC Award.
“My phone blew up [after the Oulton win],” she told Autosport. “I'm still replying to messages now from that win. I had hundreds of notifications from people like Karun Chandhok and Susie Wolff. It's nice to have my name on the map, people are noticing what I'm achieving now.”
Powell, meanwhile, is a racing veteran and the 31-year-old has been a Test and Development Driver for Envision since 2019.
Porsche has also confirmed its line-up, which consists of 2023 F1 Academy champion Marta Garcia and Gabriela Jilkova.
Jilkova’s call-up was expected, as the 29-year-old is Porsche’s Development and Simulator Driver who completed 43 laps for the team in pre-season testing last year.
But Garcia is a surprise addition as the Spaniard, who contested the 2024 Formula Regional European Championship, drove for ERT - now known as Kiro Race Co - in May’s Berlin rookie test and was expected to once again join the recently acquired squad that will now use Porsche powertrains.
Garcia's likely successor to the F1 Academy title Abbi Pulling will drive for Nissan in the test, having dominated the all-female series this year so far winning seven of 10 races. The Alpine Academy driver also contested the 2024 British F4 campaign, where she won a race at Brands Hatch.
Pulling will be joined by Sophia Florsch at Nissan, after spending the last two seasons in Formula 3 where she claimed just one points finish. The 23-year-old is also part of the Alpine Academy and has made three starts at the Le Mans 24 Hours, those coming between 2020 and 2022.
Maserati, meanwhile, will enter Tatiana Calderon and Carrie Schreiner. Calderon has contested IMSA this year having previously driven in the European Le Mans Series, Formula 2 and IndyCar, while being an F1 reserve driver for Alfa Romeo from 2018 to 2021. For Schreiner, this Formula E test comes after spending the last two seasons on the F1 Academy grid where she won at Zandvoort in 2023.
| Team | Drivers |
| Maserati MSG | Tatiana Calderon, Carrie Schreiner |
| Envision Racing | Alisha Palmowski, Alice Powell |
| McLaren | Ella Lloyd, Bianca Bustamante |
| Jaguar | TBC, TBC |
| Abt | TBC, TBC |
| Porsche | Gabriela Jilkova, Marta Garcia |
| Nissan | Abbi Pulling, Sophia Florsch |
| Mahindra Racing | TBC, TBC |
| DS Penske | TBC, TBC |
| Andretti | Chloe Chambers, Nerea Marti |
| Kiro Race Co | TBC, TBC |
Has a woman ever competed in Formula E before?
Three women have competed in a Formula E race since the all-electric championship began in 2014.
That year’s Beijing season opener saw Katherine Legge and Michela Cerruti become the first females to do so. Legge lined up alongside Takuma Sato for Team Aguri and finished 15th in a frustrating outing for the Briton, who received a drive-through penalty converted into 57s for crossing the white line at pit exit following the mid-race car swaps.
The Indianapolis 500 regular returned for the following round in Malaysia and came 15th again having received another penalty - this was a drive-through converted into 23s for causing an opening lap collision with Cerruti.
Legge was subsequently dropped ahead of the next race and the 44-year-old has predominantly raced in sportscars.
Cerruti, meanwhile, contested the opening four races of the 2014-15 campaign for the Trulli Formula E Team. The Italian finished 14th in Beijing and retired in Putrajaya following her collision with Legge, before placing a series-best of 12th in Uruguay.
She then retired from the following round in Argentina and was replaced by ex-F1 driver Vitantonio Liuzzi ahead of Miami. Following her Formula E stint, Cerruti contested the TCR International Series in 2016 and 2017 before focusing on management as the team principal of Alfa Romeo ETC outfit Romeo Ferraris.
Simona de Silvestro became the third female to compete in a Formula E race, as the Swiss-Italian joined Andretti for the final weekend of the championship’s debut year. She finished 11th and 12th in the two races in London before contesting a full campaign for the American squad the following season.
Silvestro finished 18th in the 2015-16 standings having scored points in Long Beach and Berlin, yet did not return the following year. Subsequently, the 36-year-old has competed in IndyCar, Supercars and GT Masters, while being a Formula E test driver for Venturi and Porsche too.
