Chadwick Hails Formula E Test as ‘Great Opportunity’

Jamie Chadwick, one of 18 female drivers participating in a Formula E test event, stated that driving in the all-female test event is “great” for the representation of women in motorsport. The 26-year-old Chadwick was among 18 female drivers present at the event, held on Friday at the Ricardo Tormo circuit near Valencia, Spain. She secured a seat with current world champions Jaguar TCS Racing for this test and is also scheduled to participate in the Formula E rookie test at the Berlin E-Prix with the same team next year. “It’s great for us all to have this opportunity at this level, world championship level,” Chadwick informed BBC Radio Somerset. She added, “It’s hard to get seat-time in a car like this as it is so it’s a great opportunity, it’s great for representation of women in the sport and very excited to get it under way.” Currently, no female drivers hold a Formula E race seat. The FIA-organised event mandated that all current teams in the championship field at least one female driver for the half-day test, with many teams opting to field two. Historically, three women have competed in a Formula E race, all during the inaugural 2014 season: Briton Katherine Legge, Swiss Simona de Silvestro, and Italian Michela Cerruti. Chadwick previously drove a Formula E car for Jaguar in 2020 during a rookie test event in Marrakesh. “It’s an opportunity I’m very grateful to have and relish,” Chadwick further commented. In addition to her Formula E test participation, Chadwick serves as a development driver for Williams’ Formula 1 team and is a three-time W Series winner. Over the past two years, she has competed in Indy NXT in the United States, which is the second tier of the USA’s open-wheel racing format, IndyCar. In June, she achieved a significant milestone by becoming the first female driver to win a race on a road or street circuit in IndyCar’s feeder series. Formula E vehicles are identical lithium-ion battery-powered open-cockpit cars, which Chadwick described as “pretty significantly” different from any she had previously driven. Chadwick remarked, “I think that’s part of the skill of being a driver and something I’ve always enjoyed doing.” She elaborated on the cars’ complexity, stating, “With all the systems, the way that the cars are, the drivers are engineers in some regards. I think [the cars are] different to what a lot of us have done before so it’s a whole new learning in that sense but something I’m really enjoying.” Chadwick also noted the strategic aspects: “A lot of data, a lot of different tools and things you can use and then no one wants any of the other teams to know what they’re doing so it’s all coded in different ways. It is something that takes a bit of time getting used to.” Chadwick indicated that she plans to take a break following the test event before evaluating her options for 2025. She expressed that racing Formula E full-time one day would be “incredible,” though she considered it “probably a little bit far fetched at the moment.” She concluded, “[It is] definitely something I would love to say one day and this opportunity is the first part of it so I’m very excited.”