Female racers struggle for sponsors and track time after leaving F1's women-only series

ZANDVOORT, Netherlands (AP) — Maya Weug seemed to be doing everything right.

She was the first female member of Ferrari’s young driver program, a front-runner in Formula 1’s developmental series for women, F1 Academy, and a star of its spinoff Netflix docuseries .

Now Weug has spent most of 2026 on the outside looking in.

“There was a good plan coming into this year and everything was ready to go and to focus on GT (sportscar racing),” the 22-year-old told The Associated Press in a recent interview on the sidelines of the Dutch Grand Prix . “But then it suddenly all fell apart in March. Since then I’ve just been standing, I wouldn’t say on my own, but basically on my own.”

F1 Academy was launched in 2023 to give female drivers a platform to reach higher levels of competition in a sport that’s always been dominated by men. But Weug’s case highlights how even the academy’s top drivers often struggle to bring in the sponsorship money they need to continue racing once they exit the two-year program.

F1 Academy’s managing director Susie Wolff told AP the series is challenging “perceptions and stereotypes” about women in motorsports even though it hasn’t yet propelled its graduates to racing’s top levels.

“I do acknowledge that it’s frustrating to see that we haven’t seen our champions go on to considerable success,” she said, while noting that the series is only in its fourth season.

Weug had a rough landing this year after finishing F1 Academy runner-up in 2025. Despite backing from F1 Academy and Ferrari, her plan to move into GT sportscar racing failed for reasons she wouldn’t specify but said were “out of their control and my control.”

She only managed to arrange two races in a mostly amateur sportscar series in Belgium.

Weug described her disappointment in a heartfelt social media post in August and appealed for teams and sponsors to get in touch.

“I think I just expected that the results I put together over the past years would have counted for something,” she wrote.

Since then, things have started looking up: Earlier this month Weug had a one-off race in Germany in the Euroformula Open, a racing series with cars close in performance to Formula 3, but with a relatively small audience.

She’s not the only F1 Academy graduate struggling to finance her career.

Marta García, the inaugural F1 Academy champion in 2022, went nine months without racing this year until her return to the track last month in Belgium. The absence took a toll.

“I was like ‘who am I when I’m not racing?’ Trust me, that question is terrifying,” she said in a video on Instagram. “I started questioning everything, my value, my purpose. There were days where I didn’t even know who I was.”

Other ex-F1 Academy drivers have left motorsport, including for personal reasons, or dropped into mostly amateur events. Of the 16 drivers from the inaugural 2023 season, at least six do not appear to have raced cars competitively in 2026.

Some are still in the spotlight. F1 Academy provides career-development funding to its champions.

Last year’s champion Doriane Pin was on a team challenging for a class win at the Le Mans 24-hour race, while 2024 winner Abbi Pulling tested for the Indy NXT series Monday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

When F1 announced its new developmental series for women in 2022, CEO Stefano Domenicali sought to prepare up-and-coming drivers to move through junior ranks “hopefully to F2 and then the pinnacle of Formula 1.”

So far, no F1 Academy graduate has reached Formula 2, the level below F1 on the FIA racing ladder. No woman has taken part in an F1 world championship race in 50 years.

One reason is spiraling costs. Another is that women are underrepresented at the grassroots, making up just 5-7 percent of youth entries in karting, the main entry route for children dreaming of F1. A season in top-level karting can cost $270,000, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem told the AP this month.

A year in F3 or F2 can run into the millions. With fewer seats available at each level up the ladder, drivers -- and their sponsors or parents -- are essentially bidding against each other for spots.

People “are asking, ‘Are you getting paid for it?’ No. All the money we’re finding is to actually be able to race and show yourself,” Weug said. “That’s always been something I’ve been struggling with since I was 12.”

The FIA’s efforts largely focus on opening up karting with sponsored places for female drivers. It says the field for a new World Cup event launched last year was 14% female, still low but double the typical level.

“We invest in the grassroots, we invested in building up bridges, and we invest in making sure the journey is more affordable,” Ben Sulayem told the AP. “Accessibility comes from affordability.”

Wolff said F1 Academy’s reach was driving demand for girls to take part and the series had more applicants than ever.

“I think there’s many things that we’re doing right,” Wolff said. “There’s clearly on the sporting side more we need to evaluate because it is not sustainable for our champions not to go on to some form of success.”

F1 Academy uses modified Formula 4-level cars and enforces a maximum two seasons for drivers, meaning Weug had to move on after 2025, her second year.

The academy is unusual because the series subsidizes drivers taking part, with backing from F1 ownership and its own sponsors. F1 Academy estimates it covers 82% of the cost, and Wolff estimated the value of a GB3 season like the one funded for former champion Pulling at around 700,000 euros ($797,000).

“I think one of the challenges we face is our name, F1 Academy,” Wolff said. “It clearly gives the impression that we are getting our drivers ready for F1. And those with the knowledge in the sport, we are at F4 level, that means there is still F3 and F2, so this idea that F1 Academy is preparing you for F1 is also sometimes challenging.”

At the Dutch Grand Prix last month at Zandvoort, Weug was on the sidelines at a track where she had a breakthrough home win last year. She wasn’t driving but instead coaching her friend and former rival Alba Larsen, her replacement as the Ferrari-backed driver in F1 Academy. The academy’s races benefit from the F1 spotlight by being held at the same tracks during the same weekends as Grand Prix races.

“The most important is that people don’t forget you,” Weug said. “That you’re on track is really important.”

AP Sports Writer Daniella Matar in Monza, Italy, contributed to this report.

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