Named System Equal, the proposed crew is anticipating to function with 50/50 p.c break up between women and men working on the outfit, and is planning to work out of an unspecified “Gulf space nation” – with Saudi Arabia believed to be among the many key underwriters of the challenge.
Pollock, formerly the manager of 1997 F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve, revealed the plans on Tuesday in an interview with CNN, and acknowledged that the crew’s ambition was primarily to make sure that girls had a pathway to succeed in F1 in quite a lot of roles.
System Equal is the newest potential F1 applicant to have publicly unveiled its plans, following the FIA’s launch of a young course of for brand spanking new groups for 2025 and 2026, with Andretti essentially the most high-profile of those.
Junior collection crew Hitech and French-owned Panthera Crew Asia are additionally believed to have submitted official Expressions of Curiosity within the tender course of.
“This has been occurring for shut on 4 years, the increase of a model new System 1 crew, however taking into it our ambition to ship and construct alternatives and pathways for girls to get to the very prime degree inside motorsports,” Pollock instructed CNN.
“The idea and the concept was to try to construct a System 1 crew that’s 50% male, 50% feminine, which is extraordinarily exhausting to do when you have an present System 1 crew. It is a lot simpler with a clear sheet.”
Pollock added that it could be “unbelievable” to increase that ratio into the crew’s driver pairing, however was cautious of the present lack of girls racers with the requisite superlicence factors to succeed in F1.
He added that the 50/50 ratio would prolong to all sides of the crew, together with the engineering division and at board degree.
“I feel it would be completely unbelievable [to have a female driver],” Pollock defined.
Williams has three-time W Sequence champion Jamie Chadwick on its books as an academy driver
Picture by: Williams
“However the actuality is to have the ability to get into the cockpit of a System 1 automotive, you have to have a sure variety of factors in your superlicence.
“I can not put my hand in my coronary heart and say sure, however we’re holding a really shut eye on it. I simply hope for the ladies that that is the case.
“However to make this very clear, this isn’t nearly girls driving System 1 automobiles. That is about all through the crew; we would like it even as much as the board degree if we will try this. We want to have a gender equal System 1 crew going ahead.”
Pollock declined to reply if Saudi Arabia was concerned within the crew, however revealed that he was in “intense discussions with a Gulf space nation” to base the crew within the Center East – citing the plethora of flight connections that F1 groups already make within the likes of Doha and Abu Dhabi as a profit.
Falkirk-born Pollock was concerned in taking on the Tyrrell crew along side British American Tobacco, earlier than he was ousted as crew principal on the ensuing BAR crew in 2002 as David Richards took over.
He then partnered with Kevin Kalkhoven to buy the PacWest CART crew in 2003, renaming it PK Racing. Pollock was then purchased out a 12 months later, the crew later turning into KV Racing when CART title winner Jimmy Vasser bought a few of the Scotsman’s shares within the crew.
Pollock later arrange the PURE engine challenge in anticipation of the 2014 turbo-hybrid engine rules, signing ex-Ferrari engineer Gilles Simon to steer the operation, however the firm then folded because of myriad monetary points.
