When Claire Williams was appointed vice-principal of the Williams F1 team, she hoped that her promotion "might open the door to an untapped market," according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. Women make up some 40% of the audience, making it "a good time to approach brands more interested in female consumers." The response "was hardly deafening." Williams: "I said (to the Williams sponsorship people) 'Let's go out there, let's really go hard at female brands.' And not one of them (brands) was interested." It has been 40 years "since the sole occasion where a woman finished in the points at an F1 race." While F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone is convinced that a woman racer would be a commercial boost for the series, getting one who really excites the fans -- and sponsors -- "has been the problem." Ecclestone said, "For some reason women are not coming through, and not because we don't want them. Of course we do, because they would attract a lot of attention and publicity and probably a lot of sponsors." Efforts so far indicate that "the situation is more complicated and that simply appointing a woman driver to a role within a team is not enough." Sauber "had been grooming Simona de Silvestro for a race seat until the 26-year-old Swiss failed to find the necessary sponsorship." Williams test driver Susie Wolff said, "As much as people say 'We really want to see a woman in F1 and it would be such a great marketing exercise,' the truth is it hasn’t happened. So it can’t be that great because nobody has actually made it happen." The reason why, according to a motorsport marketing expert who has brought numerous top sponsors into F1, "lies primarily in performance and the nature of a sport" where men still make up 60-70% of the audience. JMI CEO Zak Brown said, "If you’re strictly a female-directed product, you’re most likely going to be wasting too much of your money talking to people that aren’t your core consumer" (REUTERS, 5/5).
