MOTORSPORT: Crucial test for Aussie women

Australia will know within a week whether it will have a representative, perhaps even two, in the new international all-female open-wheel W Series.

Two Australian expatriates are among 28 women from 16 countries who will be put through four days of testing from tomorrow (Saturday, March 23) to select 18 drivers plus a couple of reserves for the six-round series in Europe starting in May.

The Aussies are Toowoomba's Alexandra Whitley, 25, who has been racing V8 utes – and won a race in New Zealand – and Maitland resident, Caitlan Wood, 22, who has been driving GTs in Europe for three years.

Chelsea Angelo and Charlotte Poynting were eliminated at the initial test for W Series aspirants at Wachauring in Austria in January.

The final test is at Almeria, a 4.1km, 14-corner circuit with a back straight almost 1km long, in southern Spain.

This time the women will drive the new Tatuus T-318 Formula 3 car that will be used in series starting in May, with races in Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy and Britain at rounds of the DTM touring car championship.

At the earlier three-day test on the icy Wachauring track they drove Ford Fiesta STs and Porsche Caymans.

"It'll be much more of a race-focused program than before," said Dave Ryan, the W Series racing director, a New Zealander who was the McLaren F1 team's sporting director until he departed in the wake of Lewis Hamilton lying to stewards at the 2009 Australian Grand Prix.

"Obviously we'll be recording lap times and the drivers' pace will be important, but we'll also be looking at their rate of improvement throughout the test, and the ability of each driver to work technically and productively with engineers and mechanics, in addition to their stamina and consistency over longer runs."

The drivers who make the final cut will be named next Thursday (March 28).

The judges include ex-F1 racers David Coulthard and Alex Wurz and American nine-time Indianapolis starter Lyn St James.

The W Series will have a US$1.5 million (A$2.11 million) prize fund, with US$500,000 for the winner and payment to all competitors.

Whitley, who works at Tony Quinn's Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, told NZ's Locker Room that "taking away the money and sponsorship worries" ensured a level playing field for W Series competitors.

"Every single round, the drivers will change cars and engineers, so no one can complain ‘your car is better than mine'," Whitley said.

"Everyone gets an equal opportunity, which is the way motorsport should be.

"For me, this is an opportunity of a lifetime, something neither myself nor my family could have ever afforded to do.

"Formula 3 is a whole other level – like five steps up from what I'm racing now. Learning about the cars and engineers and having the opportunity to improve is amazing.

"I'm busting to get in the car. I've only ever driven an open-wheeler once before, but – coming from a karting background [she was a seven-time Australian women's champion] – it's so exciting.

"They're very fast, very low to the ground – you really get to feel everything that's going on.

"It's going to be very challenging, but I'm ready to take on anything they throw at me."

Michael Schumacher's 19-year-old son Mick may get to do his first F1 test in early April.

An official test for rookies is scheduled immediately after the Bahrain GP on Sunday week (March 31).

The young Schumacher, last year's European F3 champion now stepping up to F2 with the same Italian-based Prema team, is a member of Ferrari's driver academy.

He's already qualified for an F1 super-licence and is expected to test for the Ferrari-powered team Alfa Romeo Sauber, if not in Bahrain then at Barcelona later in the year.

Mark Webber says he was in negotiations with Ferrari at one point of his F1 career, but the stumbling block was the duration of the contract.

Webber has told Britain's Channel 4 that he discussed a deal with former Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali in Monaco "and we came pretty close to agreeing terms".

"I was very much actually looking forward to working with Stefano, but I think it was actually the duration of the contract which was a bit of an issue for me.

"And also, at the time, Luca di Montezemolo [then Ferrari president], wanted me to go and see him in Italy and I had Flavio [Briatore] in my corner [as manager], so there was a little bit of arm-wrestling going on.

"But, in the end, I would have definitely signed very quickly about a two-year fixed contract with Ferrari, but it was options one-and-one. In the end I stayed at Red Bull."

Mercedes says that the floor of Lewis Hamilton's car was damaged running over kerbs at Albert Park last Sunday, explaining why the world champion trailed his victorious teammate Valtteri Bottas in last Sunday's Australian GP.

Hamilton had suspected his problem was from having run over debris on the fourth lap.

Mercedes' chief strategist James Vowles said the carbon floor was broken just in front of one of the rear wheels.

"That area is quite sensitive aerodynamically – it's both for downforce and also for balance of the car," Vowles said.

"We believe we sustained the damage during the course of the race while riding over some of the kerbs.

"It would've caused the rear to be more unstable than it normally would be, and Lewis did a fantastic job bringing that car to the end of the race."