Last week, Alpine has confirmed that it has signed up German F3 racer Sophia Floersch (22) as a late addition to its Driver Academy. The French manufacturer announced the young chargers that will race this season, with the support of Alpine’s Academy.
The selection features seven young hopefuls, led by FIA Formula 2 racers Jack Doohan, a multiple race winner in F2 and definitely F1 material, and Victor Martins, the reigning FIA F3 Champion, and a driver with huge potential as well.
Floersch, understandingly delighted, said: “Joining the Alpine Academy is an honour and a major opportunity in my career.” While Laurent Rossi, Alpine CEO commented: “Alpine transformative programme aims to take advantage of a pool of female talent whose skills and experience are a real performance differentiator.”
At ‘The Human Side of Racing’, we warmly welcome such initiatives, and would love to see women thrive in the highest echelons of motorsport, but we insist, promotions such as these, should be based on results on the track, like it is for the men mentioned above.
Concerning Sophia Floersch: she participated in 2020 in 16 FIA Formula 3 races for Campos Racing. No wins, no podiums, no poles… and a best finish of 29th in the championship. A decent racer though, she finished twice on the podium in the 2020 European Le Mans Series. She owes her notoriety to the enormous crash she was involved in at the 2018 Macao Grand Prix, while she navigated in 18th position. Fortunately, she was just shocked and bruised but not seriously hurt.
Again, while we applaud Alpine’s initiative (to support female racers), we wish their selection would be based on a great track record – don’t they mention “performance as a differentiator” – and not only according to gender, looks and marketing potential. That said, good luck to this young lady; we will follow her progress with great interest in 2023.
