FREC: Chadwick Signs for Prema, Major Backing from Rodin Cars

2019 W Series Champion Jamie Chadwick is widely regarded as the most likely person to become the first female F1 driver since Lella Lombardi in 1976, however lacked the funding.

By winning the inaugural W Series championship, the Brit was awarded £500,000, however Chadwick admitted that “to drive in Formula 3, for example, you’re looking at double what I got in W Series prize money.”

Since then, Chadwick was given the opportunity to become the test driver for multi-millionaire David Dicker’s Rodin Cars company, who plans on producing the world’s fastest track car and make it commercially available to the public. After testing the car in New Zealand in March, Dicker described her as an “exceptional talent”, and is “taking a long term view on this in fully supporting her journey as she moves up the ladder towards F1.”

Rodin Cars testing in NZ with Jamie Chadwick

Chadwick revealed that she very nearly didn’t make trip to New Zealand, with her flight out being mere hours before lockdown in various countries was announced, “I did get stuck in New Zealand. It was a very close call whether I was going to go - I was on the flight when I found out that six hours after I actually landed there you'd have to go into quarantine for 14 days and I would not have gone.

"To be honest it was a helpful time. It was a bit of a shame they went into lockdown - driving cars around all day would have been a great life - but sadly I couldn't do it. But it definitely helped with the conversations.

"It's the most exciting moment of my career, and gives me security and structure. Every year I've gone racing I've always had that uncertainty [of what I could do the following year], but now I have structure and support, and I can focus on performing my best."

The 22 year old will race for reigning champions Prema Powerteam in the Formula Regional European Championship, and plans on rising up the single seater ladder with the team into FIA F3 and F2, with the team being reigning champions in FIA F3 and former champions with Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc in F2, being in a position to race in F1 “by 2023 or 2024”.

Chadwick will race alongside a trio of Formula 4 graduates, Arthur Leclerc (brother of Charles Leclerc) and Gianluca Petecof from the Ferrari Driver Academy, and Dane Oliver Rasmussen. She replaces another F4 graduate Roman Stanek, who was originally announced in the winter but was understood to be dropped due to financial reasons.

The car used in FREC is identical to the Tatuus Formula 3 car used in both W Series and the Asian Formula 3 series, in which she finished 1st and 4th respectively, a good sign that Chadwick will be competitive right from the get go in a field of mostly rookies.

The 2020 Formula Regional European Championship kicks off at Misano, Italy on August 1st-2nd.