EXCLUSIVE: F1 legend David Coulthard rubbishes misconception about female drivers

F1 legend David Coulthard has rubbished the claim women aren't strong enough to race in the sport.

Upon his retirement from the sport, the 13-time grand prix winner founded More Than Equal, a women-only driver development program aiming to unearth the first female F1 driver in three decades.

Speaking to Wide World of Sports, Coulthard pointed out men also don't have the strength to drive F1 cars without extensive training, particularly around the neck.

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"There's no strength-related reason why women can't compete in Formula 1," he said.

"From a physical point of view, the power steering nowadays is strong, and there's many female athletes who've got stronger necks than you and I."

Former Australian Rally Champion Molly Taylor agreed, but argued women are starting from a lower "base-level".

"It's not an unachievable amount of strength that you need to have," she told Wide World of Sports.

"Certainly you have to do some work, and maybe as a woman you naturally have less muscle mass at a base level, so maybe there's a bit more work in required in the gym.

"But it is not something that's unachievable."

Only five women have ever entered an F1 grand prix, and only two have actually made the start of the race.

Giovanna Amati was the last to enter a race. She entered three in the 1992 season driving for Brabham - which by then was about to go bust - but failed to qualify for any of them.

The last to actually make the grid was Lella Lombardi. She started 12 races from 17 entries, and famously scored half a point at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix.

The sport has taken steps to correct that in recent years. The FIA established the ill-fated W-Series in 2019. From the mistakes learned from that, F1 itself established the F1 Academy in 2023. Drivers in the Academy compete in identical F4 machinery.

But the gap between F4 and F1 machinery is extreme, and Coulthard conceded it will still be some time before a woman is ready to step in to F1.

"It's about application," Coulthard explained. "If you work yourself physically, then there's no physical reason a woman can't drive in F1. The rest is down to skill.

"There's also thousands of young boys who want to be Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen, and there's two or three that can be.

"So there needs to be thousands of young girls who want to be. Right now there's hundreds.

"But over time, F1 Academy and the likes will show that it's there is a professional route there for women, and over time we'll have someone.

"When that is, I don't know. Who it is, I don't know. But it's in their hands."