03/04/2015
NEWS STORY
Michele Mouton, who finished runner-up in the WRC in 1982, contesting 50 events with Fiat, Audi and Peugeot, and was appointed the first president of the FIA's Women & Motor Sport Commission in 2010, appears unimpressed by Bernie Ecclestone's suggestion of a 'women only' F1 championship.
With an eye on ways to attract attention and publicity for the sport, not to mention sponsors, Ecclestone has suggested a ‘women only' F1 championship which would see races held over the weekends of the Formula One World Championship season.
Reception to the proposal has been mixed, drivers like Susie Wolff saying she would not be interested in such an idea. "Why would I ever look for a race where I was only competing against women?" she said.
Mouton is equally unmoved.
"The idea of an all-women competition is not something we (the FIA) would dismiss without proper debate and research," she told the Associated Press. "But from my own experience as a competitor, I truly believe women want to compete on an equal level with their male counterparts. They have proved through the decades that it is possible, even if only a few."